Nonstop flight route between Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from RGL to FFD:
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- About this route
- RGL Airport Information
- FFD Airport Information
- Facts about RGL
- Facts about FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to RGL
- List of Nearest Airports to RGL
- Map of Furthest Airports from RGL
- List of Furthest Airports from RGL
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport (RGL), Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,145 miles (or 13,108 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 Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández 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 Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández 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:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | RGL / SAWG |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Argentina |
| GPS Coordinates: | 51°36'30"S by 69°18'45"W |
| Area Served: | Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina |
| Operator/Owner: | Government and Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 |
| Airport Type: | Public / Military |
| Elevation: | 66 feet (20 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from RGL |
| More Information: | RGL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
| Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
| Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
| GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
| Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
| View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
| More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Facts about Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport (RGL):
- Because of Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport's relatively low elevation of 66 feet, planes can take off or land at Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International 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.
- Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport (RGL) currently has only 1 runway.
- The closest airport to Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport (RGL) is Presidente Carlos Ibáñez International Airport (PUQ), which is located 116 miles (187 kilometers) SSW of RGL.
- In addition to being known as "Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport", another name for RGL is "Aeropuerto de Rio Gallegos "Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández"".
- The furthest airport from Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport (RGL) is Chita Kadala (HTA), which is nearly antipodal to Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport (meaning Piloto Civil Norberto Fernández International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chita Kadala), and is located 12,321 miles (19,829 kilometers) away in Chita, Russia.
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- 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 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 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.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
- 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.
- RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
- 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.
- 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.
