Nonstop flight route between Gabbs, Nevada, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gabbs Airport (GAB), Gabbs, Nevada, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,055 miles (or 8,136 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 Gabbs Airport and MoD St Athan, 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 Gabbs Airport and MoD St Athan. 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 Gabbs Airport (GAB):

• The closest airport to Gabbs Airport (GAB) is Hawthorne Industrial Airport (HTH), which is located 45 miles (72 kilometers) SW of GAB.
• Gabbs Airport (GAB) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Gabbs Airport (GAB) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,159 miles (17,959 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Because of Gabbs Airport's high elevation of 4,700 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GAB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GAB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• On 26 August 1993 an ATC civilian instructor was seriously injured and the RAF Volunteer Reserve pilot, Group Captain Roger Sweatman, was killed when their Chipmunk trainer, on an air experience flight, crashed after encountering difficulties during a simulated emergency low-height manoeuvre on take-off.
• In 2006, the Special Forces Support Group was raised at St Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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.
• St Athan also became the major RAF maintenance base for Vulcan, Victor, Buccaner, Phantom, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10 aircraft, originally under direct RAF control, but latterly under the auspices of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• After the war, airmen of the Airframe and Engine trades continued to train at St Athan, but in 1955 this training dispersed to RAF Kirkham and RAF Weeton.
• The station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.