Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and La Plata Airport (LPG), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,880 miles (or 11,072 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 La Plata 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 La Plata 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):

• 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.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.

Facts about La Plata Airport (LPG):

• The furthest airport from La Plata Airport (LPG) is Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO), which is nearly antipodal to La Plata Airport (meaning La Plata Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Qingdao Liuting International Airport), and is located 12,305 miles (19,802 kilometers) away in Qingdao, Shandong, China.
• In addition to being known as "La Plata Airport", another name for LPG is "Aeropuerto de La Plata".
• The closest airport to La Plata Airport (LPG) is Laguna de los Patos International Airport (CYR), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) N of LPG.
• La Plata Airport (LPG) has 2 runways.
• Because of La Plata Airport's relatively low elevation of 72 feet, planes can take off or land at La Plata 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.