Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Jacksonville, Florida, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and NAS Jacksonville (NIP), Jacksonville, Florida, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,238 miles (or 5,211 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Santa Maria Airport and NAS Jacksonville, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Santa Maria Airport and NAS Jacksonville. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• A chartered Boeing 707-300, Independent Air Flight 1851 from Bergamo, Italy in 1989 crashed on approach to Santa Maria Airport, when it struck the Pico Alto mountain.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is Moruya Airport (MYA), which is nearly antipodal to Santa Maria Airport (meaning Santa Maria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Moruya Airport), and is located 12,166 miles (19,579 kilometers) away in Moruya, New South Wales, Australia.
• The forerunner of SATA Air Açores initiated services concurrently to São Miguel and Terceira from Santa Maria Airport on 5 August 1947, using a plane christened "Açor".
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• Because of Santa Maria Airport's relatively low elevation of 308 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Maria Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The airport at Santa Maria was part of a larger complex of buildings and infrastructures constructed in the 20th century.

Facts about NAS Jacksonville (NIP):

• NAS Jacksonville (NIP) has 2 runways.
• Today, 23,000 civilian and active-duty personnel are employed on the base.
• The furthest airport from NAS Jacksonville (NIP) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,460 miles (18,444 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• During the late 1940s, the jet age was dawning and in 1948 the Navy’s first jet carrier air groups and squadrons came to NAS Jacksonville.
• In 1970, a major reorganization of the Naval Reserve resulted in three separate Naval Air Reserve flying squadrons, identical to their active duty Regular Navy counterparts, being activated at NAS Jacksonville.
• A piece of history and Navy and Marine Corps tradition was lost in 1986 when the last unit of Marines left NAS Jacksonville.
• In March 1959, Marine Attack Squadron ONE FOUR TWO of the Marine Corps Reserve relocated to NAS Jacksonville from the closing MCAS Miami, along with the associated Marine Air Reserve Training Detachment.
• Because of NAS Jacksonville's relatively low elevation of 22 feet, planes can take off or land at NAS Jacksonville at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The closest airport to NAS Jacksonville (NIP) is Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport (CRG), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) NE of NIP.
• In addition to being known as "NAS Jacksonville", another name for NIP is "Towers Field".
• NAS Jacksonville continued growing throughout the late 1940s.