Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Watsonville, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to WVI:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- WVI Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about WVI
- 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 WVI
- List of Nearest Airports to WVI
- Map of Furthest Airports from WVI
- List of Furthest Airports from WVI
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI), Watsonville, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,325 miles (or 8,570 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 Watsonville Municipal 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 Watsonville Municipal 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: | WVI / KWVI |
Airport Name: | Watsonville Municipal Airport |
Location: | Watsonville, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 36°56'8"N by 121°47'22"W |
Operator/Owner: | City of Watsonville |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 163 feet (50 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from WVI |
More Information: | WVI Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
- Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
- 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.
- 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.
- RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
- In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI):
- Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI) has 2 runways.
- The airport is uncontrolled, and the CTAF is 122.8 MHz, and the ASOS can be received on 132.275 MHz or by calling 831-724-8794.
- The closest airport to Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI) is Hollister Municipal Airport (HLI), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) E of WVI.
- The furthest airport from Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,380 miles (18,315 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- Instrument pilots have been advised that Watsonville is occasionally surrounded by non-IFR traffic that climbs/descends to low stratus layer.
- Because of Watsonville Municipal Airport's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at Watsonville Municipal 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.