Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and New York City, New York, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and West 30th Street Heliport (JRA), New York City, New York, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,388 miles (or 5,452 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 West 30th Street Heliport, 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 West 30th Street Heliport. 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about West 30th Street Heliport (JRA):

• Because of West 30th Street Heliport's relatively low elevation of 7 feet, planes can take off or land at West 30th Street Heliport 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 furthest airport from West 30th Street Heliport (JRA) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,750 miles (18,910 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Since this is a heliport and not an airport, there are no Instrument Procedures.
• The closest airport to West 30th Street Heliport (JRA) is East 34th Street Heliport (TSS), which is located only 2 miles (3 kilometers) ESE of JRA.
• Tourist flights out of the 30th Street Heliport are scheduled to move to Downtown Manhattan Heliport on March 31, 2010 and the heliport itself is scheduled to relocate by on December 31, 2012 as a result of a court agreement between helicopter operators and Friends of Hudson River Park who took action to enforce the Hudson River Park Act which banned tourism flights from that location.