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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Adak Airport (ADK), Adak Island, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,275 miles (or 8,490 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 Adak 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 Adak 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):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Adak Airport (ADK):

• The furthest airport from Adak Airport (ADK) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,985 miles (17,679 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 1,989 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 1,907 in 2009, and 2,097 in 2010.
• Adak Airport (ADK) has 2 runways.
• Because of Adak Airport's relatively low elevation of 18 feet, planes can take off or land at Adak 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.
• The closest airport to Adak Airport (ADK) is Atka Airport (AKB), which is located 106 miles (171 kilometers) ENE of ADK.
• The military first developed an air station on Adak during World War II.