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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Sand Point Airport (SDP), Sand Point, Alaska, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,944 miles (or 7,957 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 Sand Point 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 Sand Point 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 Sand Point Airport (SDP):

• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 4,296 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 3,957 in 2009, and 4,281 in 2010.
• Sand Point Airport is a state owned, public use airport located two nautical miles southwest of the central business district of Sand Point, a city in the Aleutians East Borough in the U.S.
• Sand Point Airport (SDP) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Sand Point Airport (SDP) is Port Moller Airport (PML), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) N of SDP.
• The furthest airport from Sand Point Airport (SDP) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,961 miles (17,641 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Because of Sand Point Airport's relatively low elevation of 21 feet, planes can take off or land at Sand Point 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.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.