Nonstop flight route between Tau, American Samoa and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tau Airport (TAV), Tau, American Samoa and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,754 miles (or 15,697 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 Tau Airport and MoD St Athan, 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 Tau Airport and MoD St Athan. 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 Tau Airport (TAV):

• Tau Airport is no longer active or in use since the development of Fitiuta Airport, located northeast of Tau Island.
• Tau Airport (TAV) currently has only 1 runway.
• Tau Airport is a privately owned, private-use airport located one mile southeast of the village of Ta‘ū on the island of Ta‘ū in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States.
• The furthest airport from Tau Airport (TAV) is Zinder Airport (ZND), which is nearly antipodal to Tau Airport (meaning Tau Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Zinder Airport), and is located 12,331 miles (19,845 kilometers) away in Zinder, Niger.
• Because of Tau Airport's relatively low elevation of 185 feet, planes can take off or land at Tau 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.
• The closest airport to Tau Airport (TAV) is Fitiuta Airport (FTI), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) E of TAV.
• In addition to being known as "Tau Airport", other names for TAV include "none" and "HI36".

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• In March 2004, however, DARA announced the loss of 550 jobs at St Athan as part of streamlining to make DARA more efficient and better able to compete with the private sector for lucrative aircraft repair contracts, but also because they lost out to a direct RAF bid for a contract to upgrade the air force's fleet of ageing Harrier jump jet aircraft.
• Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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.
• During the war a dummy airfield was built using wood and cardboard a few miles west of the original airfield and successful efforts were made to hide the proper field.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• The station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.