Nonstop flight route between Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Chamonate Airfield (CPO), Copiapó, Atacama Region, Chile and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,781 miles (or 10,913 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 Chamonate Airfield 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 Chamonate Airfield 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 Chamonate Airfield (CPO):

• Because of Chamonate Airfield's relatively low elevation of 954 feet, planes can take off or land at Chamonate Airfield 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 closest airport to Chamonate Airfield (CPO) is Chañaral Airport (CNR), which is located 68 miles (109 kilometers) N of CPO.
• The furthest airport from Chamonate Airfield (CPO) is Zhijiang Airport (HJJ), which is nearly antipodal to Chamonate Airfield (meaning Chamonate Airfield is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Zhijiang Airport), and is located 12,425 miles (19,995 kilometers) away in Zhijiang, Hubei, China.
• In addition to being known as "Chamonate Airfield", other names for CPO include "Chamonate Airfield (Copiapó)" and "Aeródromo Chamonate".
• Chamonate Airfield (CPO) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• 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 station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.
• 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.
• 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.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.