Nonstop flight route between Mercury, Nevada, United States and Santa Maria, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Yucca Airstrip (UCC), Mercury, Nevada, United States and Santa Maria Airport (SMA), Santa Maria, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,795 miles (or 7,717 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 Yucca Airstrip 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 Yucca Airstrip 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 Yucca Airstrip (UCC):

• In addition to being known as "Yucca Airstrip", another name for UCC is "NV11".
• The airport was the staging area for SHOT BADGER, a test of the UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE Series of nuclear test shots on April 18, 1953.
• The closest airport to Yucca Airstrip (UCC) is Desert Rock Airport (DRA), which is located 23 miles (36 kilometers) S of UCC.
• Yucca Airstrip (UCC) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Yucca Airstrip (UCC) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,249 miles (18,103 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Yucca Airstrip is a private-use airport located 17 miles north of the central business district of Mercury, in Nye County, Nevada, United States.

Facts about Santa Maria Airport (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.
• 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.
• Santa Maria Airport handled 93,436 passengers last year.
• The airport at Santa Maria was part of a larger complex of buildings and infrastructures constructed in the 20th century.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Santa Maria Airport (SMA) is João Paulo II Airport (PDL), which is located 60 miles (97 kilometers) NNW of SMA.
• 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".
• 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.
• Santa Maria Airport (SMA) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.