Nonstop flight route between Yakima, Washington, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) (FCT), Yakima, Washington, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,732 miles (or 7,616 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 Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) and RAF Fairford, 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 Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) and RAF Fairford. 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 Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) (FCT):

• The closest airport to Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) (FCT) is Yakima Air Terminal (YKM), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) SSW of FCT.
• The furthest airport from Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) (FCT) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,789 miles (17,363 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Vagabond Army Heliport (closed to fixed-wing aircraft) (FCT) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.