Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sacramento, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sacramento International Airport (SMF), Sacramento, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,218 miles (or 8,398 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 Sacramento International 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 Sacramento International 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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 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.

Facts about Sacramento International Airport (SMF):

• The furthest airport from Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,280 miles (18,154 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Sacramento International Airport handled 8,910,570 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Sacramento International Airport (SMF) is Sacramento Airport McClellan Airfield (MCC), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) E of SMF.
• Sacramento International Airport (SMF) has 2 runways.
• Because of Sacramento International Airport's relatively low elevation of 27 feet, planes can take off or land at Sacramento International 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.
• Long dominated by Southwest and United, the intra-California market was joined in 2011 by American and Delta which fly from Los Angeles International Airport.
• As the nation’s economy was taking a hit in 2008, commercial aviation was challenged by reduced passenger numbers and increasing fuel and other costs.
• Sacramento International Airport is a public airport 10 miles northwest of downtown Sacramento, in Sacramento County, California.
• The consolidated rental car terminal, the first of its kind in the nation, gave all rental car customers a single point of access that could be reached on a single shuttle.
• Between 1990 and 2007 Sacramento International Airport had a high incidence of bird strikes due to its location in an avian migratory route.