Nonstop flight route between High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom and Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from HYC to VLE:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- HYC Airport Information
- VLE Airport Information
- Facts about HYC
- Facts about VLE
- Map of Nearest Airports to HYC
- List of Nearest Airports to HYC
- Map of Furthest Airports from HYC
- List of Furthest Airports from HYC
- Map of Nearest Airports to VLE
- List of Nearest Airports to VLE
- Map of Furthest Airports from VLE
- List of Furthest Airports from VLE
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF High Wycombe (HYC), High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom and Valle Airport (VLE), Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,120 miles (or 8,240 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 High Wycombe and Valle 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 High Wycombe and Valle Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | HYC / EGUH |
Airport Name: | RAF High Wycombe |
Location: | High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'53"N by 0°48'6"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from HYC |
More Information: | HYC Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | VLE / |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 35°38'58"N by 112°8'30"W |
Area Served: | Valle, Arizona |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 5999 feet (1,828 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from VLE |
More Information: | VLE Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF High Wycombe (HYC):
- Since 2009, the station has been responsible for reviewing UFO sightings as part of efforts to identify any possible unauthorised military incursions into UK airspace.
- Operationally during the Cold War the Director UKWMO would have been located at the United Kingdom Regional Air Operations Command within Strike Command's Operations Centre nuclear bunker at RAF High Wycombe to instigate the national Four minute air raid warnings, with the Deputy Director located at a standby UK RAOC, described at the time as being "elsewhere in the UK", but has since been revealed as being at Goosnargh near Preston within the UKWMO Western Sector nuclear bunker.
- The Ministry of Defence and Serco Group agreed a ten-year contract in February 2010 whereby Serco would provide support services at RAF High Wycombe and RAF Halton, including leisure services, general engineering and catering.
- The furthest airport from RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,867 miles (19,098 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
- The closest airport to RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is RAF Benson (BEX), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) WSW of HYC.
- To preserve secrecy, the station was known as "Southdown" in March 1940, as part of a directive by the Air Ministry.
Facts about Valle Airport (VLE):
- Because of Valle Airport's high elevation of 5,999 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at VLE. Combined with a high temperature, this could make VLE a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
- Valle Airport (VLE) currently has only 1 runway.
- For the 12-month period ending April 20, 2009, the airport had 6,500 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 18 per day.
- The closest airport to Valle Airport (VLE) is Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) N of VLE.
- The furthest airport from Valle Airport (VLE) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,305 miles (18,194 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- In addition to being known as "Valle Airport", another name for VLE is "40G".