Nonstop flight route between Marana, Arizona, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Pinal Airpark (MZJ), Marana, Arizona, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,183 miles (or 8,342 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 Pinal Airpark 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 Pinal Airpark 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 Pinal Airpark (MZJ):

• Built in 1942 by the Sundt & Del Webb Construction Companies and opened in March 1943, the facility was known as Marana Army Air Field.
• Marana conducted basic flight training & the training of transport pilots in instrument flying & navigation, being the home of the 3024th.
• In addition to being known as "Pinal Airpark", another name for MZJ is "Marana Army Airfield".
• The majority of the aircraft at Pinal Airpark formerly belonged to Northwest Airlines, though many other airlines are represented as well.
• The furthest airport from Pinal Airpark (MZJ) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,496 miles (18,502 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The closest airport to Pinal Airpark (MZJ) is Marana Regional Airport (AVW), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) SE of MZJ.
• Marana was closed after World War II and in 1948, Pinal County accepted a deed to the property, subsequent to the Air Force's disposal of most of the buildings, waterlines, gas lines, and electrical lines.
• Pinal Airpark (MZJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• Pinal Airpark is the home of Marana Aerospace Solutions, Evergreen Trade Inc., and Silverbell Army Heliport.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• The new academy was claimed to create up to 5000 jobs at St Athan with a £14 billion investment over 25 years with an estimated £57.4 million spent into the local economy.
• In March 2004, however, DARA announced the loss of 550 jobs at St Athan as part of streamlining to make DARA more efficient and better able to compete with the private sector for lucrative aircraft repair contracts, but also because they lost out to a direct RAF bid for a contract to upgrade the air force's fleet of ageing Harrier jump jet aircraft.
• 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.
• 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.