Nonstop flight route between Comayagua, Honduras and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from XPL to FFD:
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- About this route
- XPL Airport Information
- FFD Airport Information
- Facts about XPL
- Facts about FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to XPL
- List of Nearest Airports to XPL
- Map of Furthest Airports from XPL
- List of Furthest Airports from XPL
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Soto Cano Air Base (XPL), Comayagua, Honduras and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,265 miles (or 8,473 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 Soto Cano Air Base 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 Soto Cano Air Base and RAF Fairford. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | XPL / MHSC |
| Airport Name: | Soto Cano Air Base |
| Location: | Comayagua, Honduras |
| GPS Coordinates: | 14°22'57"N by 87°37'15"W |
| Airport Type: | Military |
| Elevation: | 2060 feet (628 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from XPL |
| More Information: | XPL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
| Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
| Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
| GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
| Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
| View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
| More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Facts about Soto Cano Air Base (XPL):
- Plans call for the construction to take place over the coming years with all base facilities to either be new construction, or receive major upgrades.
- The closest airport to Soto Cano Air Base (XPL) is Marcala Airport (MRJ), which is located 32 miles (51 kilometers) WSW of XPL.
- Soto Cano Air Base (XPL) currently has only 1 runway.
- All military personnel live on the installation.
- The US government once used Palmerola as a base of operations to support their foreign policy objectives in the 1980s.
- The Constitution of Honduras does not permit a permanent foreign presence in Honduras.
- The furthest airport from Soto Cano Air Base (XPL) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is nearly antipodal to Soto Cano Air Base (meaning Soto Cano Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport), and is located 12,101 miles (19,475 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
- In 1990 Honduran President Rafael Leonardo Callejas decreed that commercial cargo flights were authorized to operate from Soto Cano.
- Health care services are performed by the Medical Element.
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
- RAF Fairford is also the home of the Royal International Air Tattoo, an annual air display.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
