Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Ambler, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Ambler Airport (ABL), Ambler, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,135 miles (or 6,655 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 Fairford and Ambler 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 Fairford and Ambler 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 Fairford (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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.

Facts about Ambler Airport (ABL):

• Ambler Airport covers an area of 272 acres at an elevation of 334 feet above mean sea level.
• The closest airport to Ambler Airport (ABL) is Shungnak Airport (SHG), which is located 24 miles (39 kilometers) SE of ABL.
• Because of Ambler Airport's relatively low elevation of 334 feet, planes can take off or land at Ambler 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.
• Ambler Airport (ABL) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Ambler Airport (ABL) is Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Airport (TNM), which is located 10,187 miles (16,394 kilometers) away in Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 2,357 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, an increase of 0.13% from the 2,354 enplanements in 2007.
• In addition to being known as "Ambler Airport", another name for ABL is "AFM".