Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Merced, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to MCE:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- MCE Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about MCE
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to MCE
- List of Nearest Airports to MCE
- Map of Furthest Airports from MCE
- List of Furthest Airports from MCE
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Merced Regional Airport (MCE), Merced, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,266 miles (or 8,475 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 Fairford and Merced Regional 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 RAF Fairford and Merced Regional Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | MCE / KMCE |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Merced, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°17'4"N by 120°30'50"W |
Area Served: | Merced, California |
Operator/Owner: | City of Merced |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 155 feet (47 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from MCE |
More Information: | MCE Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
- Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
- The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
- On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
- On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
- Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
Facts about Merced Regional Airport (MCE):
- In addition to being known as "Merced Regional Airport", another name for MCE is "MacReady Field".
- Because of Merced Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 155 feet, planes can take off or land at Merced Regional 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 March 15, 1932 the Merced City Council accepted the title to the site of an airport as a gift from the Twenty-Thirty Club and the Crocker-Huffman Company.
- The furthest airport from Merced Regional Airport (MCE) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,314 miles (18,209 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- Merced Regional Airport (MCE) currently has only 1 runway.
- In 1941 construction delays at the Air Corps Basic Flying School site forced the Army to lease the original Merced Municipal Airport, resulting in the first aircraft assigned to the Air Corps Basic Flying School being stored at Merced Municipal Airport and giving the Basic Flying School its first usable axillary field.
- The Department of Transportation reselected Great Lakes Airlines to provide Essential Air Service at Merced Regional Airport for the two-year period from October 1, 2012, through September 30, 2014.
- Merced Regional Airport is a base for Medi-Flight Northern California, an air ambulance service provided by Mercy Air, a subsidiary of Air Methods.
- The closest airport to Merced Regional Airport (MCE) is Castle Airport (MER), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) NNW of MCE.
- In 1943 New Merced Municipal Airport was leased to the U.S.
- The airport was formerly served by Air Pacific, American Eagle, Golden Gate Airlines, United Airlines, United Express and US Airways Express.