Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Madison, South Dakota, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to XMD:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- XMD Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about XMD
- 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 XMD
- List of Nearest Airports to XMD
- Map of Furthest Airports from XMD
- List of Furthest Airports from XMD
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Madison Municipal Airport (XMD), Madison, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,127 miles (or 6,642 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 Madison 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 Madison 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: | XMD / KMDS |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Madison, South Dakota, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 44°0'59"N by 97°5'8"W |
Area Served: | Madison, South Dakota |
Operator/Owner: | City of Madison |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 1718 feet (524 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from XMD |
More Information: | XMD Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- The 422nd ABG at RAF Croughton and the 420th Air Base Squadron are responsible for the day-to-day operations of RAF Fairford, ensuring that it has adequate resources.
- 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.
- KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
- 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.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Facts about Madison Municipal Airport (XMD):
- In addition to being known as "Madison Municipal Airport", another name for XMD is "MDS".
- The furthest airport from Madison Municipal Airport (XMD) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,587 miles (17,039 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- Madison Municipal Airport covers an area of 375 acres at an elevation of 1,718 feet above mean sea level.
- The closest airport to Madison Municipal Airport (XMD) is Brookings Regional Airport (BKX), which is located 24 miles (39 kilometers) NNE of XMD.
- Madison Municipal Airport (XMD) has 2 runways.