Nonstop flight route between Santa Rosa, California, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS), Santa Rosa, California, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,265 miles (or 8,474 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 Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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 Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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 Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS):

• Because of Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport's relatively low elevation of 125 feet, planes can take off or land at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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.
• Alaska Airlines operated by Horizon Air, has 5 or 6 flights a day from Santa Rosa, 2 or 3 flights a day to Los Angeles and 1 flight a day to Seattle, Portland, and San Diego.
• In March 2007 airline flights resumed on Horizon Air, with flights to Seattle–Tacoma and Los Angeles.
• The airfield was inactivated on 31 January 1946 and turned over to the War Assets Administration for eventual conversion to a civil airport.
• In the 1930s Santa Rosa had a small municipal airfield owned by Richfield Oil Corporation next to the Redwood Highway about 4 miles southeast of the present airport.
• The closest airport to Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) is Marin County Airport (NOT), which is located 29 miles (46 kilometers) SSE of STS.
• Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,331 miles (18,235 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• In addition to being known as "Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport", another name for STS is "Santa Rosa Army Airfield".
• The airport is named after Charles M.

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