Nonstop flight route between Olathe, Kansas, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between New Century AirCenter (JCI), Olathe, Kansas, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,247 miles (or 6,834 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 New Century AirCenter 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 New Century AirCenter 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 New Century AirCenter (JCI):

• The furthest airport from New Century AirCenter (JCI) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,743 miles (17,288 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In addition to being known as "New Century AirCenter", another name for JCI is "IXD".
• With the departure of Navy and Marine Corps Reserve flying units, the sole remaining military aviation presence at the airfield is the US Army Reserve's Bravo Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, flying the CH-47 Chinook.
• New Century AirCenter (JCI) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to New Century AirCenter (JCI) is Johnson County Executive Airport (OJC), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) E of JCI.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• 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.
• 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.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• The training to be carried out at St Athan was to be specialist phase 2 and phase 3 engineering courses of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.
• 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 MOD later decided that DARA's 'Fast Jets' and 'Engines' businesses would close by April 2007, although the 'Large Aircraft' business would continue and, on 14 April 2005, the Project Red Dragon super-hangar opened and DARA moved its VC10 operations from its existing 'Twin Peaks' hangar into the new facility.
• Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• During the war a dummy airfield was built using wood and cardboard a few miles west of the original airfield and successful efforts were made to hide the proper field.