Nonstop flight route between Tacoma, Washington, United States and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tacoma Narrows Airport (TIW), Tacoma, Washington, United States and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,710 miles (or 7,580 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 Tacoma Narrows Airport and Santa Maria 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 Tacoma Narrows Airport and Santa Maria 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 Tacoma Narrows Airport (TIW):

• Tacoma Narrows Airport (TIW) currently has only 1 runway.
• Tacoma Narrows Airport is a county owned, public use airport located 5 mi west of the central business district of Tacoma, a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States.
• The furthest airport from Tacoma Narrows Airport (TIW) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,797 miles (17,376 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Tacoma Narrows Airport (TIW) is McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) SSE of TIW.
• Because of Tacoma Narrows Airport's relatively low elevation of 294 feet, planes can take off or land at Tacoma Narrows 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.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (SMA):

• 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".
• In addition to being known as "Santa Maria Airport", another name for SMA is "Aeroporto de Santa Maria".
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of 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 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 handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Transportes Aéreos Portugueses began lay-over flights to this airport on 7 December 1962, eventually inaugurating trans-Atlantic service between Santa Maria-New York and Santa Maria-Montreal.
• 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.