Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Tan-Tan, Morocco:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Tan Tan Airport (TTA), Tan-Tan, Morocco would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,677 miles (or 2,699 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 relatively short distance between RAF Fairford and Tan Tan Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Tan Tan Airport (TTA):

• In addition to being known as "Tan Tan Airport", other names for TTA include "مطار طانطان الشاطئ الأبيض", "Plage Blanche Airport" and "Tan Tan Plage Blanche".
• Tan Tan Airport (TTA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Tan Tan Airport (TTA) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Tan Tan Airport (meaning Tan Tan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,369 miles (19,905 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• Because of Tan Tan Airport's relatively low elevation of 653 feet, planes can take off or land at Tan Tan 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 Tan Tan Airport (TTA) is Lanzarote Airport (ACE), which is located 152 miles (245 kilometers) WNW of TTA.