Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Santa Barbara, California, United States:
Departure Airport:

Arrival Airport:

Distance from LKZ to SZN:
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- About this route
- LKZ Airport Information
- SZN Airport Information
- Facts about LKZ
- Facts about SZN
- Map of Nearest Airports to LKZ
- List of Nearest Airports to LKZ
- Map of Furthest Airports from LKZ
- List of Furthest Airports from LKZ
- Map of Nearest Airports to SZN
- List of Nearest Airports to SZN
- Map of Furthest Airports from SZN
- List of Furthest Airports from SZN
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Santa Cruz Island Airport (SZN), Santa Barbara, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,472 miles (or 8,806 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 Lakenheath and Santa Cruz Island 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 Lakenheath and Santa Cruz Island Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | LKZ / EGUL |
Airport Name: | RAF Lakenheath |
Location: | Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 52°24'29"N by 0°33'24"E |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from LKZ |
More Information: | LKZ Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SZN / KSZN |
Airport Name: | Santa Cruz Island Airport |
Location: | Santa Barbara, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 34°3'38"N by 119°54'54"W |
Operator/Owner: | The Nature Conservancy |
Airport Type: | Private |
Elevation: | 50 feet (15 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from SZN |
More Information: | SZN Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):
- The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
- The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
- Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
- The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
- In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.
- By 1950, Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.
Facts about Santa Cruz Island Airport (SZN):
- Because of Santa Cruz Island Airport's relatively low elevation of 50 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Cruz Island Airport 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 Santa Cruz Island Airport (SZN) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,512 miles (18,527 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
- The closest airport to Santa Cruz Island Airport (SZN) is Santa Barbara Airport (SBA), which is located 26 miles (41 kilometers) N of SZN.
- Santa Cruz Island Airport (SZN) currently has only 1 runway.