Nonstop flight route between Santa Maria, Portugal and Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, Illinois, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from SMA to PWK:
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- About this route
- SMA Airport Information
- PWK Airport Information
- Facts about SMA
- Facts about PWK
- Map of Nearest Airports to SMA
- List of Nearest Airports to SMA
- Map of Furthest Airports from SMA
- List of Furthest Airports from SMA
- Map of Nearest Airports to PWK
- List of Nearest Airports to PWK
- Map of Furthest Airports from PWK
- List of Furthest Airports from PWK
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal and Chicago Executive Airport (PWK), Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, Illinois, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,286 miles (or 5,288 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 Chicago Executive Airport, 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 Chicago Executive Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | SMA / LPAZ |
| Airport Names: |
|
| Location: | Santa Maria, Portugal |
| GPS Coordinates: | 36°58'26"N by 25°10'15"W |
| Area Served: | Vila do Porto |
| Operator/Owner: | Government of Portugal |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 308 feet (94 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from SMA |
| More Information: | SMA Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | PWK / KPWK |
| Airport Name: | Chicago Executive Airport |
| Location: | Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, Illinois, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 42°6'51"N by 87°54'6"W |
| Area Served: | Chicago |
| Operator/Owner: | City of Prospect Heights and Village of Wheeling |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 647 feet (197 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 3 |
| View all routes: | Routes from PWK |
| More Information: | PWK Maps & Info |
Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):
- 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 is an airport located 5 km west northwest of the urbanized area of Vila do Porto on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria, in the autonomous region of the Azores.
- Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
- Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Flores, Horta, Ponta Delgada and Beja, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98.
- The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
- 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.
- 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.
- In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
- It was built in the context of the Second World War, by US troops in order to maintain supply lines to Europe, and inaugurated on 26 July 1945.
Facts about Chicago Executive Airport (PWK):
- The closest airport to Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) is Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) S of PWK.
- Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) has 3 runways.
- Because of Chicago Executive Airport's relatively low elevation of 647 feet, planes can take off or land at Chicago Executive 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 can handle executive jets in the 20-seat range, such as the Grumman Gulfstream and the Bombardier Challenger, and larger aircraft occasionally visit.
- The airport opened in 1925 as Gauthier's Flying Field.
- The furthest airport from Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,069 miles (17,813 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- Charlie Priester kept an FBO at the airport along with a charter company called Priester Aviation.
