Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Gold Beach, Oregon, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Gold Beach Municipal Airport (GOL), Gold Beach, Oregon, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,085 miles (or 8,184 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 Gold Beach Municipal 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 Gold Beach Municipal 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 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 the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.

Facts about Gold Beach Municipal Airport (GOL):

• In addition to being known as "Gold Beach Municipal Airport", another name for GOL is "4S1".
• Gold Beach Municipal Airport (GOL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Gold Beach Municipal Airport (GOL) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,140 miles (17,928 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Gold Beach Municipal Airport (GOL) is Brookings Airport (BOK), which is located 25 miles (39 kilometers) SSE of GOL.
• Because of Gold Beach Municipal Airport's relatively low elevation of 20 feet, planes can take off or land at Gold Beach Municipal 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.