Nonstop flight route between Albina, Suriname and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Albina Airstrip (ABN), Albina, Suriname and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,285 miles (or 6,896 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 Albina Airstrip 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 Albina Airstrip and MoD St Athan. 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 Albina Airstrip (ABN):

• The closest airport to Albina Airstrip (ABN) is Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (PBM), which is located 78 miles (126 kilometers) W of ABN.
• The furthest airport from Albina Airstrip (ABN) is Namrole Airport (NRE), which is nearly antipodal to Albina Airstrip (meaning Albina Airstrip is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Namrole Airport), and is located 12,311 miles (19,812 kilometers) away in Buru, Indonesia.
• Albina Airstrip (ABN) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• In March 2004, however, DARA announced the loss of 550 jobs at St Athan as part of streamlining to make DARA more efficient and better able to compete with the private sector for lucrative aircraft repair contracts, but also because they lost out to a direct RAF bid for a contract to upgrade the air force's fleet of ageing Harrier jump jet aircraft.
• On 26 August 1993 an ATC civilian instructor was seriously injured and the RAF Volunteer Reserve pilot, Group Captain Roger Sweatman, was killed when their Chipmunk trainer, on an air experience flight, crashed after encountering difficulties during a simulated emergency low-height manoeuvre on take-off.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• After the war, airmen of the Airframe and Engine trades continued to train at St Athan, but in 1955 this training dispersed to RAF Kirkham and RAF Weeton.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• The only squadrons to operate out of St Athan on a regular basis are the University of Wales Air Squadron, flying Grob Tutors and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron using Vigilant T.1s.
• The MOD later decided that DARA's 'Fast Jets' and 'Engines' businesses would close by April 2007, although the 'Large Aircraft' business would continue and, on 14 April 2005, the Project Red Dragon super-hangar opened and DARA moved its VC10 operations from its existing 'Twin Peaks' hangar into the new facility.