Nonstop flight route between Ruislip, England, United Kingdom and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Northolt (NHT), Ruislip, England, United Kingdom and Santos Dumont Airport (SDU), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,759 miles (or 9,269 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 Northolt and Santos Dumont 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 Northolt and Santos Dumont Airport. 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 RAF Northolt (NHT):

• The closest airport to RAF Northolt (NHT) is London Heathrow Airport (LHR), which is located only 6 miles (9 kilometers) SSW of NHT.
• In December 1946, after taking off during a heavy snowstorm, a Douglas DC-3 operated by British European Airways, flying from Northolt to Glasgow, crashed onto the roof of a house in South Ruislip.
• Northolt pre-dates the establishment of the Royal Air Force by almost three years, having opened in May 1915.
• Civil flights ceased when the central area at Heathrow opened in 1954 with Northolt reverting to sole military use in May that year.
• In 1916, No. 43 Squadron was formed under the command of Major Sholto Douglas.
• Since 1 June 1998, station commanders have served as aides-de-camp to Her Majesty the Queen.
• The furthest airport from RAF Northolt (NHT) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,871 miles (19,105 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Santos Dumont Airport (SDU):

• Santos Dumont Airport (SDU) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Santos Dumont Airport (SDU) is Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2 (IWO), which is nearly antipodal to Santos Dumont Airport (meaning Santos Dumont Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Central Field (Iwo Jima)Motoyama No. 2Airfield No. 2), and is located 12,125 miles (19,513 kilometers) away in Iwo Jima, Bonin Islands, Japan.
• The closest airport to Santos Dumont Airport (SDU) is Rio de Janeiro/Galeão–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport (GIG), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NW of SDU.
• In 1934, in order to handle a growing amount of land operations, land was reclaimed from the sea to create the first runway of the airport with a length of 1,300 feet.
• On 21 May 1959 a formal agreement between Varig, Cruzeiro do Sul, and VASP created an air shuttle service, the first of its kind in the world.
• In addition to being known as "Santos Dumont Airport", another name for SDU is "Aeroporto Santos Dumont".
• Santos Dumont Airport handled 9,204,603 passengers last year.
• Because of Santos Dumont Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at Santos Dumont 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.
• Adjoining the original seaplane terminal, Pan American World Airways and its Brazilian subsidiary Panair do Brasil constructed their own dedicated terminal for seaplanes and aircraft with landing gear.
• Real Auto Ônibus operates executive bus 2018, that runs half-hourly from the airport to the Central Bus Station and Galeão International Airport in one direction, and in the opposite direction to the southern parts of the city along the shore, with its final stop at Alvorada Bus Terminal in Barra da Tijuca.