Nonstop flight route between Kitwe, Zambia and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Southdowns Airport (KIW), Kitwe, Zambia and RAF High Wycombe (HYC), High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,787 miles (or 7,704 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 Southdowns Airport and RAF High Wycombe, 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 Southdowns Airport and RAF High Wycombe. 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 Southdowns Airport (KIW):

• Southdowns Airport (KIW) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Southdowns Airport's high elevation of 4,145 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KIW. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KIW a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Southdowns Airport (KIW) is Hilo International Airport (ITO), which is located 11,920 miles (19,184 kilometers) away in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.
• The closest airport to Southdowns Airport (KIW) is Kasompe Airport (CGJ), which is located 28 miles (46 kilometers) NW of KIW.

Facts about RAF High Wycombe (HYC):

• The closest airport to RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is RAF Benson (BEX), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) WSW of HYC.
• 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 site is a non-flying station and was home to RAF Strike Command before it became part of the newly formed RAF Air Command on 1 April 2007.
• During the Second World War High Wycombe was used by the United States Army Air Forces.
• The location of the station was originally suggested by Wing Commander Alan Oakeshott when the Air Ministry was seeking a new, secure, site for Bomber Command away from London.
• 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.