Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Athens/Albany, Ohio, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport (ATO), Athens/Albany, Ohio, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,789 miles (or 6,098 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 Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush 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 Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush 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):

• RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• 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.

Facts about Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport (ATO):

• The aviation program started training pilots in 1939.
• The closest airport to Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport (ATO) is Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport (PMH), which is located 42 miles (67 kilometers) SW of ATO.
• The university finally chose a location just west of Albany and the airport was constructed in the early 1970s and opened around 1972.
• In addition to being known as "Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport", other names for ATO include "Snyder Field" and "UNI".
• The furthest airport from Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport (ATO) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,410 miles (18,363 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport's relatively low elevation of 766 feet, planes can take off or land at Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush 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.
• Ohio University Airport Gordon K. Bush Airport (ATO) currently has only 1 runway.