Nonstop flight route between Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from ASI to DGX:
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- About this route
- ASI Airport Information
- DGX Airport Information
- Facts about ASI
- Facts about DGX
- Map of Nearest Airports to ASI
- List of Nearest Airports to ASI
- Map of Furthest Airports from ASI
- List of Furthest Airports from ASI
- Map of Nearest Airports to DGX
- List of Nearest Airports to DGX
- Map of Furthest Airports from DGX
- List of Furthest Airports from DGX
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Ascension (ASI), Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,154 miles (or 6,685 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 RAF Ascension and MoD St Athan, 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 RAF Ascension and MoD St Athan. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ASI / FHAW |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena |
GPS Coordinates: | 7°58'9"S by 14°23'38"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from ASI |
More Information: | ASI Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | DGX / EGDX |
Airport Name: | MoD St Athan |
Location: | St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°24'16"N by 3°26'8"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
Airport Type: | Military |
Elevation: | 163 feet (50 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from DGX |
More Information: | DGX Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Ascension (ASI):
- In addition to being known as "RAF Ascension", another name for ASI is "Wideawake Airbase/Field".
- The NASA Tracking Station at Devil's Ashpit and the Cable & Wireless Earth Station at Donkey Plain were built in the "mid-sixties" for space operations and communications, including the latter's use for transmitting "microwave borne data via the Early Bird Satellite back to the NASA facility at Andover, Maine.
- The furthest airport from RAF Ascension (ASI) is Ujae Airport (UJE), which is nearly antipodal to RAF Ascension (meaning RAF Ascension is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ujae Airport), and is located 12,370 miles (19,907 kilometers) away in Ujae Atoll, Marshall Islands.
- RAF Ascension Island is also the refuelling point for the Ministry of Defence's South Atlantic Air Bridge flights to RAF Mount Pleasant, on the Falkland Islands, from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, in the UK.
- The closest airport to RAF Ascension (ASI) is Sasstown Airport (SAZ), which is located 965 miles (1,553 kilometers) NNE of ASI.
- Wideawake Airfield was a US installation built in 1943 by arrangement with the British government.
Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):
- Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
- In 2006, the Special Forces Support Group was raised at St Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London.
- The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
- Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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.
- MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
- St Athan also became the major RAF maintenance base for Vulcan, Victor, Buccaner, Phantom, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10 aircraft, originally under direct RAF control, but latterly under the auspices of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.
- The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
- The base has been home to the RAF No.
- RAF St Athan has been used to house a number of army units throughout its life and, in 2003, the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards moved from Aldershot to St Athan - the first time they have been based in Wales since they were formed in 1915.