Nonstop flight route between Kotzebue, Alaska, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ), Kotzebue, Alaska, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,183 miles (or 6,732 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 Ralph Wien Memorial 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 Ralph Wien Memorial 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 Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ):

• The furthest airport from Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ) is Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Airport (TNM), which is located 10,291 miles (16,561 kilometers) away in Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica.
• The closest airport to Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ) is Robert (Bob) Curtis Memorial Airport (ORV), which is located 43 miles (69 kilometers) E of OTZ.
• Because of Ralph Wien Memorial Airport's relatively low elevation of 14 feet, planes can take off or land at Ralph Wien Memorial 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.
• Ralph Wien Memorial Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located one nautical mile south of the central business district of Kotzebue, a city on the Baldwin Peninsula in the Northwest Arctic Borough of the U.S.
• Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ) has 2 runways.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• 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 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.