Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Waterloo, Iowa, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field) (ALO), Waterloo, Iowa, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,027 miles (or 6,480 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 Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field), 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 Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field). 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 runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field) (ALO):

• Under its founding manager, Walter Betsworth, Waterloo Municipal Airport expanded from a WWII training airstrip to a flourishing regional airport.
• Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field) (ALO) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field) (ALO) is Northeast Iowa Regional Airport (CCY), which is located 37 miles (60 kilometers) NNW of ALO.
• The furthest airport from Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field) (ALO) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,839 miles (17,443 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Northwest Flight 335 landed without incident at the Waterloo Regional Airport on June 2, 2009, about an hour into its flight from Detroit to Los Angeles with 182 passengers and a flight crew of eight.
• Because of Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field)'s relatively low elevation of 873 feet, planes can take off or land at Waterloo Regional Airport (Livingston Betsworth Field) 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.