Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Hibbing, Minnesota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Range Regional Airport (HIB), Hibbing, Minnesota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,819 miles (or 6,146 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 Range 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 Range 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):

• 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.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
• 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 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 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.

Facts about Range Regional Airport (HIB):

• On December 1, 1993, Northwest Airlink Flight 5719, crashed while on approach to Chisholm-Hibbing Airport.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 8,896 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 8,926 enplanements in 2009, and 11,227 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Range Regional Airport (HIB) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,717 miles (17,247 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Range Regional Airport (HIB) is Grand Rapids - Itasca County Airport (GPZ), which is located 34 miles (54 kilometers) WSW of HIB.
• Range Regional Airport (HIB) has 2 runways.