Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sumter, South Carolina, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to SUM:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- SUM Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about SUM
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to SUM
- List of Nearest Airports to SUM
- Map of Furthest Airports from SUM
- List of Furthest Airports from SUM
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Sumter Airport (SUM), Sumter, South Carolina, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,958 miles (or 6,369 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 Sumter 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 Sumter Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SUM / KSMS |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Sumter, South Carolina, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 33°59'41"N by 80°21'41"W |
Area Served: | Sumter, South Carolina |
Operator/Owner: | City & County of Sumter |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 182 feet (55 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from SUM |
More Information: | SUM Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
- 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.
- 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 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 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.
Facts about Sumter Airport (SUM):
- The closest airport to Sumter Airport (SUM) is Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) WSW of SUM.
- Sumter Airport (SUM) has 2 runways.
- Because of Sumter Airport's relatively low elevation of 182 feet, planes can take off or land at Sumter 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.
- Sumter Airport covers an area of 429 acres at an elevation of 182 feet above mean sea level.
- The furthest airport from Sumter Airport (SUM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,552 miles (18,590 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- In addition to being known as "Sumter Airport", another name for SUM is "SMS".