Nonstop flight route between Mianwali, Pakistan and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between PAF Base M.M. Alam (MWD), Mianwali, Pakistan and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,808 miles (or 6,129 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 PAF Base M.M. Alam and RAF Fairford, 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 PAF Base M.M. Alam and RAF Fairford. 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 PAF Base M.M. Alam (MWD):

• Originally a World War II airstrip, it was decided that Mianwali would be upgraded into a satellite airbase for PAF Base Mushaf during the 1965 Indo-Pak War to act as an alternate recovery airfield.
• Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force was the Chief Guest at the occasion.
• The furthest airport from PAF Base M.M. Alam (MWD) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to PAF Base M.M. Alam (meaning PAF Base M.M. Alam is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,059 miles (19,407 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• In November 1976, No.14 Squadron was transferred to Mianwali airbase for operational conversion of graduates of the No.1 Fighter Conversion Unit from dual-seat to the Shenyang F-6 single-seat fighter aircraft.
• Because of PAF Base M.M. Alam's relatively low elevation of 690 feet, planes can take off or land at PAF Base M.M. Alam 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.
• PAF Base M.M. Alam (MWD) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to PAF Base M.M. Alam (MWD) is Dera Ismail Khan Airport (DSK), which is located 60 miles (96 kilometers) SW of MWD.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.