Nonstop flight route between Tusayan, Arizona, United States and Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from GCN to BEX:
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- About this route
- GCN Airport Information
- BEX Airport Information
- Facts about GCN
- Facts about BEX
- Map of Nearest Airports to GCN
- List of Nearest Airports to GCN
- Map of Furthest Airports from GCN
- List of Furthest Airports from GCN
- Map of Nearest Airports to BEX
- List of Nearest Airports to BEX
- Map of Furthest Airports from BEX
- List of Furthest Airports from BEX
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), Tusayan, Arizona, United States and RAF Benson (BEX), Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,096 miles (or 8,202 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 Grand Canyon National Park Airport and RAF Benson, 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 Grand Canyon National Park Airport and RAF Benson. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | GCN / KGCN |
| Airport Name: | Grand Canyon National Park Airport |
| Location: | Tusayan, Arizona, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 35°57'7"N by 112°8'48"W |
| Area Served: | Grand Canyon |
| Operator/Owner: | State of Arizona |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 6609 feet (2,014 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from GCN |
| More Information: | GCN Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | BEX / EGUB |
| Airport Name: | RAF Benson |
| Location: | Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom |
| GPS Coordinates: | 51°36'59"N by 1°5'44"W |
| Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
| View all routes: | Routes from BEX |
| More Information: | BEX Maps & Info |
Facts about Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN):
- The present day facility incorporates the site of the first official Grand Canyon airport, a landing field authorized by the U.S.
- Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) currently has only 1 runway.
- Grand Canyon National Park Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located in Tusayan, a CDP in unincorporated Coconino County, Arizona, United States.
- The closest airport to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) is Valle Airport (VLE), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) S of GCN.
- The furthest airport from Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,285 miles (18,162 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- Because of Grand Canyon National Park Airport's high elevation of 6,609 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GCN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GCN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
Facts about RAF Benson (BEX):
- The closest airport to RAF Benson (BEX) is RAF High Wycombe (HYC), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) ENE of BEX.
- Building work for RAF Benson began in 1937.
- The Battles were replaced in December 1940 with Vickers Wellington medium bombers.
- The furthest airport from RAF Benson (BEX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,879 miles (19,118 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
- The station retained a reconnaissance role for some years after the war, with Avro Lancaster, Spitfire, Mosquito, Gloster Meteor PR.Mk 10 and English Electric Canberra PR.Mk 3 aircraft.
- The future of RAF Benson was in doubt for some time, while Project Belvedere was looking into closing at least one of Joint Helicopter Command's airfields.
