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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Santa Paula Airport (SZP), Santa Paula, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,389 miles (or 8,672 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 Santa Paula 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 Santa Paula 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.

Facts about Santa Paula Airport (SZP):

• CP Aviation, seen from the South end of the airport.
• The Aviation Museum of Santa Paula is headquartered at the airport.
• Because of Santa Paula Airport's relatively low elevation of 243 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Paula 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.
• The closest airport to Santa Paula Airport (SZP) is Oxnard Airport (OXR), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SW of SZP.
• For the 12-month period ending December 8, 2011, the airport had 97,000 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 265 per day.
• The furthest airport from Santa Paula Airport (SZP) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,476 miles (18,469 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• On February 21 and 22, 2005, Santa Paula Airport was heavily damaged when the rain swollen Santa Clara River ate into the airport property destroying airplane tiedowns, ramp and approximately 600 feet of part of the western one-third of the runway.
• Santa Paula Airport (SZP) currently has only 1 runway.