Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Lesobeng, Lesotho:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Lesobeng Airport (LES), Lesobeng, Lesotho would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,917 miles (or 9,522 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 Lesobeng 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 Lesobeng 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 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Lesobeng Airport (LES):

• The closest airport to Lesobeng Airport (LES) is Semonkong Airport (SOK), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) WSW of LES.
• The furthest airport from Lesobeng Airport (LES) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,760 miles (18,926 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• Lesobeng Airport (LES) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Lesobeng Airport's high elevation of 7,130 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LES. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LES a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.