Nonstop flight route between Teesside, England, United Kingdom and Big Spring, Texas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME), Teesside, England, United Kingdom and Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS), Big Spring, Texas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,811 miles (or 7,743 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 Durham Tees Valley Airport and Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield, 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 Durham Tees Valley Airport and Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield. 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 Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME):

• Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Durham Tees Valley Airport's relatively low elevation of 120 feet, planes can take off or land at Durham Tees Valley 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 airfield began its life in 1941 as Royal Air Force Station RAF Middleton St.
• The closest airport to Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) is Newcastle Airport (NCL), which is located 38 miles (61 kilometers) NNW of MME.
• Durham Tees Valley Airport handled 161,092 passengers last year.
• Shortly afterwards, a new access road, terminal front and terminal interior were completed, but the remainder of a planned £56 million expansion and development programme which would have enabled the airport to handle up to 3 million passengers annually never materialised due to the above mentioned decrease in passenger numbers.
• Dinsdale railway station in the nearby village of Middleton St George is the closest station with regular passenger services.
• Durham Tees Valley Airport is one of the United Kingdom's smaller airports, but offers links to several domestic and European destinations.
• In November 2010 the airport introduced a passenger levy of £6 to curb the airport's losses.
• The furthest airport from Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,741 miles (18,895 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.

Facts about Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS):

• In its continuing effort to cut costs, ATC made some major changes in the undergraduate pilot training program.
• Webb AFB was turned over to the General Services Agency for disposal on 1 January 1978 and the property later turned over to the Big Spring Industrial Park.
• The closest airport to Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Midland Airpark (MDD), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) WSW of BGS.
• At that time, nearly 6,000 students had graduated and the field's training aircraft had flown approximately 400,000 hours and more than 60 million miles.
• The furthest airport from Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,166 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• By the mid-1970s, the end of the Vietnam War, the associated financial costs of that conflict and related cuts in USAF force structure and future defense budgets meant a marked decrease in the need for Air Force pilots.
• In 1968, ATC established a single phase-pilot training squadron concept at Webb.