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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,033 miles (or 6,490 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 The Eastern Iowa 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 The Eastern Iowa 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 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.

Facts about The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID):

• The closest airport to The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) is Iowa City Municipal Airport (IOW), which is located only 19 miles (31 kilometers) SSE of CID.
• The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) has 2 runways.
• The Eastern Iowa Airport is a commercial airport in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wright Brothers Boulevard on the south edge of town, about two miles west of Interstate 380.
• On 3 June 2010 Runway 9/27 closed for reconstruction, reopening on 23 September.
• Scheduled airline traffic shares the Eastern Iowa Airport with cargo and general aviation traffic.
• The furthest airport from The Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,883 miles (17,515 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of The Eastern Iowa Airport's relatively low elevation of 869 feet, planes can take off or land at The Eastern Iowa 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.