Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Scottsdale, Arizona, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Scottsdale Airport (SCF), Scottsdale, Arizona, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,190 miles (or 8,353 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 Scottsdale 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 Scottsdale 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.
• 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 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.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Scottsdale Airport (SCF):

• Scottsdale Airport (SCF) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Scottsdale Airport", other names for SCF include "Thunderbird Field #2" and "SDL".
• During World War II the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces Army Air Forces Training Command as "Thunderbird Field #2" on June 22, 1942, as a primary flight training school for aviation cadets.
• There are two main Fixed-base operators located on the field, Scottsdale Air Center and Landmark Aviation.
• The closest airport to Scottsdale Airport (SCF) is Phoenix Deer Valley Airport (DVT), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) WNW of SCF.
• The furthest airport from Scottsdale Airport (SCF) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,436 miles (18,404 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.