Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Naval Air Station Oceana (NTU), Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,776 miles (or 4,467 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 Naval Air Station Oceana, 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 Naval Air Station Oceana. 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):

• 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 closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• 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 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.
• For a while, Air France's supersonic Concordes were routed to Santa Maria on refueling layovers between Paris and Caracas.
• The airport at Santa Maria was part of a larger complex of buildings and infrastructures constructed in the 20th century.

Facts about Naval Air Station Oceana (NTU):

• Aside from its military function, NAS Oceana was an alternative landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle until the program ended in 2011.
• In addition to being known as "Naval Air Station Oceana", another name for NTU is "Apollo Soucek Field".
• Under the Navy's Master Jet Base concept, all Type/Model/Series aircraft were homebased at one field with associated intermediate maintenance and training facilities.
• The closest airport to Naval Air Station Oceana (NTU) is Norfolk International Airport (ORF), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) WNW of NTU.
• Naval Air Station Oceana (NTU) has 4 runways.
• The furthest airport from Naval Air Station Oceana (NTU) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,779 miles (18,956 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Tomcat training was conducted by VF-101 Grim Reapers.