Nonstop flight route between Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Pelotas International Airport (PET), Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,894 miles (or 7,876 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 Shaw Air Force Base and Pelotas International 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 Shaw Air Force Base and Pelotas International Airport. 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 Shaw Air Force Base (SSC):

• The furthest airport from Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,545 miles (18,580 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The group initially conducted training with two squadrons flying the Republic RF-84F "Thunderflash" and two squadrons Group, was a part of Strategic Air Command from July 1947 – May 1951, at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana as an Air Force Reserve corollary unit under the guidance of active duty units in order to train and maintain currency in reconnaissance operations for its reserve personnel.
• For a brief time, Shaw Field also served as a prisoner-of-war camp.
• The 363rd Fighter Wing was inactivated at Shaw AFB on 31 December 1993, and the next day, 1 January 1994, the 20th Fighter Wing inactivated at RAF Upper Heyford and reactivated without personnel or equipment at Shaw AFB, returning to the base it had left for duty with NATO forty-one years earlier.
• The closest airport to Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Sumter Airport (SUM), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) ENE of SSC.
• The 20th FG was reassigned to Langley AFB, Virginia on 1 December 1951 in preparation for a permanent overseas deployment to RAF Wethersfield, England to support NATO.

Facts about Pelotas International Airport (PET):

• Pelotas is commonly used by the Brazilian Air Force as the last stop in Brazil on their flights to the Brazilian Antarctic Base.
• Pelotas International Airport (PET) has 2 runways.
• Because of Pelotas International Airport's relatively low elevation of 59 feet, planes can take off or land at Pelotas International 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.
• On June 22, 1927 the city of Pelotas received the first official commercial passenger flight operated by the first Brazilian airline, Varig, founded only a month earlier.
• The furthest airport from Pelotas International Airport (PET) is Fukue Airport (FUJ), which is nearly antipodal to Pelotas International Airport (meaning Pelotas International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fukue Airport), and is located 12,342 miles (19,863 kilometers) away in Gotō, Nagasaki, Japan.
• In addition to being known as "Pelotas International Airport", another name for PET is "Aeroporto Internacional de Pelotas".
• The closest airport to Pelotas International Airport (PET) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) SSE of PET.
• Pelotas International Airport handled 9,965 passengers last year.