Nonstop flight route between Universal City, Texas, United States and Royan, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND), Universal City, Texas, United States and Royan - Médis Aerodrome (RYN), Royan, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,116 miles (or 8,233 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Royan - Médis Aerodrome, 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Royan - Médis Aerodrome. 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND):

• Today, the 12 FTW provides instructor pilot training and refresher/recurrency training in the T-6A Texan II, T-38C Talon and T-1A Jayhawk.
• The closest airport to Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND) is San Antonio International Airport (SAT), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) W of RND.
• Randolph AFB is part of Joint Base San Antonio, an amalgamation of the United States Army Fort Sam Houston, the United States Air Force Randolph Air Force Base and Lackland Air Force Base, which were merged on 1 October 2010.
• Between October 1931 and March 1935, more than 2,000 candidates reported for pilot training at Randolph, which began a new class every fourth months.
• In addition to being known as "Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio", another name for RND is "Randolph AFB".
• Like many military installations during World War II, Randolph fielded an intercollegiate football team, nicknamed the Randolph Field Ramblers.
• Once the site for the field was selected, a committee decided to name the base after Captain William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin and graduate of Texas A&M, who was killed on 17 February 1928, in the crash of a Curtiss AT-4 Hawk, 27–220, on takeoff from Gorman Field, Texas.
• The furthest airport from Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,103 miles (17,869 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The Military Affairs Committee of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce quickly took the forefront in the search for an airfield location, which had to be suited to the airfield design, rather than the other way around as commonly done.

Facts about Royan - Médis Aerodrome (RYN):

• The furthest airport from Royan - Médis Aerodrome (RYN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Royan - Médis Aerodrome (meaning Royan - Médis Aerodrome is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,182 miles (19,605 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Royan - Médis Aerodrome (RYN) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Royan - Médis Aerodrome (RYN) is Cognac - Châteaubernard Air Base (CNG), which is located 32 miles (51 kilometers) E of RYN.
• Because of Royan - Médis Aerodrome's relatively low elevation of 72 feet, planes can take off or land at Royan - Médis Aerodrome 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.
• In addition to being known as "Royan - Médis Aerodrome", another name for RYN is "Aérodrome de Royan-Médis".