Nonstop flight route between Ndola, Zambia and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ndola Airport (NLA), Ndola, Zambia and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,827 miles (or 7,768 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 Ndola Airport 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 Ndola Airport 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 Ndola Airport (NLA):

• Ndola Airport is an airport that serves the city of Ndola and surrounding cities on the copperbelt.
• Ndola Airport (NLA) has 2 runways.
• Because of Ndola Airport's high elevation of 4,170 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at NLA. Combined with a high temperature, this could make NLA a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Ndola Airport (NLA) is Hilo International Airport (ITO), which is located 11,911 miles (19,170 kilometers) away in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.
• It is situated 1,270 metres above sea level.
• The closest airport to Ndola Airport (NLA) is Southdowns Airport (KIW), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) WNW of NLA.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.