Nonstop flight route between Nouna, Burkina Faso and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Nouna Airport (XNU), Nouna, Burkina Faso and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,671 miles (or 4,299 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 Nouna 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 Nouna 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 Nouna Airport (XNU):

• The furthest airport from Nouna Airport (XNU) is Yasawa Island Airport (YAS), which is nearly antipodal to Nouna Airport (meaning Nouna Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Yasawa Island Airport), and is located 12,144 miles (19,544 kilometers) away in Yasawa Island, Fiji.
• In addition to being known as "Nouna Airport", another name for XNU is "Nouna Airport (Nouna)".
• Because of Nouna Airport's relatively low elevation of 886 feet, planes can take off or land at Nouna 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 Nouna Airport (XNU) is Dédougou Airport (DGU), which is located 32 miles (51 kilometers) SE of XNU.
• Nouna Airport (XNU) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The only squadrons to operate out of St Athan on a regular basis are the University of Wales Air Squadron, flying Grob Tutors and No 634 Volunteer Gliding Squadron using Vigilant T.1s.
• On 26 August 1993 an ATC civilian instructor was seriously injured and the RAF Volunteer Reserve pilot, Group Captain Roger Sweatman, was killed when their Chipmunk trainer, on an air experience flight, crashed after encountering difficulties during a simulated emergency low-height manoeuvre on take-off.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• In 2006, the Special Forces Support Group was raised at St Athan and the Welsh Guards returned to London.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• 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.
• MOD St Athan is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales.
• Just before 1100 GMT on 11 February 2009, two Grob Tutor aircraft flying out of St Athan were involved in a mid-air collision in which two Air Training Corps cadets and their instructors, both RAF pilots, died.
• 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.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• 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.