Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and The Dalles, Oregon, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS), The Dalles, Oregon, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,811 miles (or 7,743 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 Columbia Gorge Regional 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 Columbia Gorge Regional 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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 Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS):

• Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS) is Cascade Locks State Airport (CZK), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) W of DLS.
• The furthest airport from Columbia Gorge Regional Airport (DLS) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,869 miles (17,492 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Because of Columbia Gorge Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 247 feet, planes can take off or land at Columbia Gorge Regional 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 airport covers an area of 997 acres at an elevation of 247 feet above mean sea level.
• In addition to being known as "Columbia Gorge Regional Airport", another name for DLS is "The Dalles Municipal Airport".