Nonstop flight route between Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Tenerife North Airport (TFN), Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,747 miles (or 6,030 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 Tenerife North 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 Tenerife North 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):

• On 1 April 1951, the 363d TRW was transferred to Shaw from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia The 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing would remain at Shaw, under various designations, for the next 43 years.
• 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.
• On 23 September 1949 the 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was transferred to the 20th from the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Langley AFB Virginia.
• The closest airport to Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Sumter Airport (SUM), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) ENE of SSC.
• On 1 April 1945 jurisdiction of Shaw Field was transferred to First Air Force.
• 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.
• As a result of the August 1992 destruction of Homestead AFB Florida by Hurricane Andrew in September 1992, the 31st Fighter Wing's 309th Fighter Squadron was initially evacuated to Shaw AFB prior to the hurricane making landfall.

Facts about Tenerife North Airport (TFN):

• Tenerife North Airport (TFN) currently has only 1 runway.
• By 1946, more hangars, a passenger terminal and an 800 m paved runway had been built, and the airport was officially opened to all national and international traffic.
• In addition to being known as "Tenerife North Airport", another name for TFN is "Aeropuerto de Tenerife Norte".
• The furthest airport from Tenerife North Airport (TFN) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Tenerife North Airport (meaning Tenerife North Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,175 miles (19,593 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• Tenerife North Airport handled 3,717,944 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Tenerife North Airport (TFN) is Tenerife-South Airport (TFS), which is located 33 miles (54 kilometers) SSW of TFN.
• Tenerife North Airport was the scene of the Tenerife airport disaster, to date the worst accident in aviation history.
• A new terminal was inaugurated in 2002, comprising car park, motorway access ramps, and four-story terminal building, with 12 gates.
• In the 1977 Tenerife disaster, a PanAm and a KLM Boeing 747 collided on the runway, killing 583 people, the highest number of fatalities of any single accident in aviation history.