Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Santa Rosa, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS), Santa Rosa, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,230 miles (or 8,416 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 MoD St Athan and Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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 MoD St Athan and Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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 MoD St Athan (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.
• 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.
• Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
• 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 closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• 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 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS):

• Because of Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport's relatively low elevation of 125 feet, planes can take off or land at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport 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.
• In addition to being known as "Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport", another name for STS is "Santa Rosa Army Airfield".
• All Alaska Airlines flights from the airport are operated with the 76-seat Bombardier Q400 propjet, which is the largest and fastest member of the DHC-8 Dash 8 family of regional turboprops.
• The furthest airport from Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,331 miles (18,235 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The airfield was inactivated on 31 January 1946 and turned over to the War Assets Administration for eventual conversion to a civil airport.
• From the late 1940s until about 1974 Southwest Airways and successors Pacific Air Lines, Air West and Hughes Airwest served Santa Rosa.
• In the 1930s Santa Rosa had a small municipal airfield owned by Richfield Oil Corporation next to the Redwood Highway about 4 miles southeast of the present airport.
• Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) is Marin County Airport (NOT), which is located 29 miles (46 kilometers) SSE of STS.