Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Leesburg, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO), Leesburg, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,607 miles (or 5,804 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 Leesburg Executive 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 Leesburg Executive 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):

• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.

Facts about Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO):

• The closest airport to Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO) is Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), which is located only 11 miles (17 kilometers) SSE of JYO.
• Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport is currently a designated general aviation reliever airport for Dulles International, 10 miles to the southeast, and in 2008 hosted 231 aircraft based on the field and an average of 265 aircraft operations per day.
• The furthest airport from Leesburg Executive Airport (JYO) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,650 miles (18,749 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "Leesburg Executive Airport", another name for JYO is "Godfrey Field".
• Because of Leesburg Executive Airport's relatively low elevation of 389 feet, planes can take off or land at Leesburg Executive 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.
• In 1986, the Federal Aviation Administration consolidated its 308 Flight Service Stations into 61 'automated' stations.
• Leesburg Executive is located on the outer boundary of the 30 nautical mile Special Flight Rules Area, formerly known as the Air Defense Identification Zone instituted around Washington, D.C.