Nonstop flight route between Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Marais/Cook County Airport (GRM), Grand Marais, Minnesota, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,711 miles (or 5,973 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 Marais/Cook County Airport and RAF Fairford, 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 Marais/Cook County Airport and RAF Fairford. 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 Grand Marais/Cook County Airport (GRM):

• In the summer of 2009, the airport received $95,000 for the FAA to conduct an environmental impact study on a proposed expansion to the airport.
• Grand Marais/Cook County Airport (GRM) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Grand Marais/Cook County Airport (GRM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,808 miles (17,393 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Grand Marais/Cook County Airport (GRM) is Thunder Bay International Airport (YQT), which is located 61 miles (99 kilometers) NE of GRM.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Marais/Cook County Airport", another name for GRM is "CKC".

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.