Nonstop flight route between St Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom and Daocheng, Sichuan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Leuchars (ADX), St Andrews, Scotland, United Kingdom and Daocheng Yading Airport (DCY), Daocheng, Sichuan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,013 miles (or 8,068 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 Leuchars and Daocheng Yading 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 Leuchars and Daocheng Yading 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 RAF Leuchars (ADX):

• RAF Leuchars is commanded by an Air Commodore instead of a Group Captain who would usually be given command of a station.
• Royal Air Force station Leuchars or more simply RAF Leuchars is the second most northerly air defence station in the United Kingdom.
• RAF Leuchars is home to the annual Leuchars Airshow.
• Aviation at Leuchars dates back to 1911 with a balloon squadron of the Royal Engineers setting up a training camp in Tentsmuir Forest.
• During Second World War, British Overseas Airways Corporation formed in November 1939 from Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd operated a wartime route from RAF Leuchars to Stockholm.
• The furthest airport from RAF Leuchars (ADX) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,678 miles (18,793 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF Leuchars (ADX) is Dundee Airport (DND), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) NW of ADX.
• In 1954 the fixed wing aircraft had been joined by a flight of Bristol Sycamore helicopters for Search and Rescue duties.

Facts about Daocheng Yading Airport (DCY):

• The airport was opened with a single scheduled flight between Daocheng and Chengdu, and flights to Chongqing and Barkam are expected to begin before 1 October 2013.
• Construction started after the airport was approved in April 2011, with a total investment of 1.58 billion yuan.
• The closest airport to Daocheng Yading Airport (DCY) is Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG), which is located 108 miles (174 kilometers) SSW of DCY.
• Daocheng Yading Airport (DCY) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Daocheng Yading Airport", other names for DCY include "稻城亚丁机场", "Dàochéng Yàdīng Jīchǎng" and "ZUDC".
• Because of Daocheng Yading Airport's high elevation of 14,472 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at DCY. Combined with a high temperature, this could make DCY a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Daocheng Yading Airport (DCY) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is located 11,910 miles (19,167 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.