Nonstop flight route between Alpine, Texas, United States and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport (ALE), Alpine, Texas, United States and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,131 miles (or 8,257 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 Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport (ALE):

• In addition to being known as "Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport", other names for ALE include "none" and "E38".
• The closest airport to Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport (ALE) is Marfa Municipal Airport (MRF), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) W of ALE.
• Because of Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport's high elevation of 4,515 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at ALE. Combined with a high temperature, this could make ALE a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport (ALE) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,345 miles (18,257 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The airport's only scheduled service as of January 2013 is a Monday through Friday cargo flight operated by Ameriflight on behalf of UPS to Midland, Texas.
• Alpine-Casparis Municipal Airport (ALE) has 2 runways.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• Lakenheath Airfield was used by RAF flying units on detachment late in 1941.
• A near nuclear accident occurred on 27 July 1956 – when a B-47 bomber crashed into a storage igloo at Lakenheath containing three MK-6 nuclear weapons while on a routine training mission.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.
• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.