Nonstop flight route between Findlay (near Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), Findlay (near Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,651 miles (or 5,876 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 Pittsburgh International 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 Pittsburgh International 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 Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT):

• The airport has 75 gates on four Concourses, however only 62 gates are currently available for use.
• Since 1997, US Airways has maintained its OpsCenter in the metro Pittsburgh area.
• The furthest airport from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,481 miles (18,477 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is Forbes Field (FOE), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) ESE of PIT.
• In 1944 Allegheny County officials proposed to expand the military airport with the addition of a commercial passenger terminal to relieve the Allegheny County Airport, which was built in 1926 and was becoming too small.
• On October 1, 1992 the new complex opened and all operations transferred over from the old terminal overnight.
• Aside from commercial flights, other resources in and around the airport have been developed in recent years.
• Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) has 4 runways.
• In October 2007, US Airways announced that it had selected Pittsburgh as the site of its new 60,000 sq ft flight operations center, which serves as the nerve center of the airline's 1,400 daily mainline flights.
• Circa 1940 the Works Progress Administration decided the Pittsburgh area needed a military airport to defend the industrial wealth of the area and to provide a training base and stop-over facility.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• 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.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
• 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.