Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Karijini National Park, Western Australia, Australia:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to SLJ:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- SLJ Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about SLJ
- 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 SLJ
- List of Nearest Airports to SLJ
- Map of Furthest Airports from SLJ
- List of Furthest Airports from SLJ
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Solomon Airport (SLJ), Karijini National Park, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,669 miles (or 13,951 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 Solomon 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 Solomon 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: | SLJ / YSOL |
Airport Name: | Solomon Airport |
Location: | Karijini National Park, Western Australia, Australia |
GPS Coordinates: | 22°15'19"S by 117°45'42"E |
Airport Type: | Public |
View all routes: | Routes from SLJ |
More Information: | SLJ Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- 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.
- Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
- RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
- Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
- On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
- 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.
- RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
- RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
- In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
- Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
Facts about Solomon Airport (SLJ):
- The furthest airport from Solomon Airport (SLJ) is Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (AXA), which is nearly antipodal to Solomon Airport (meaning Solomon Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport), and is located 12,152 miles (19,557 kilometers) away in The Valley, Anguilla.
- The closest airport to Solomon Airport (SLJ) is Coolawanyah Station Airport (COY), which is located 32 miles (51 kilometers) N of SLJ.