Nonstop flight route between Whiteriver, Arizona, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Whiteriver Airport (WTR), Whiteriver, Arizona, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,113 miles (or 8,228 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 Whiteriver 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 Whiteriver 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 Whiteriver Airport (WTR):

• Whiteriver Airport (WTR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Whiteriver Airport (WTR) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,383 miles (18,320 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Whiteriver Airport", another name for WTR is "E24".
• The closest airport to Whiteriver Airport (WTR) is Show Low Regional Airport (SOW), which is located 31 miles (51 kilometers) N of WTR.
• Because of Whiteriver Airport's high elevation of 5,153 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at WTR. Combined with a high temperature, this could make WTR a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.