Nonstop flight route between Suffield, Alberta, Canada and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between CFB Suffield (YSD), Suffield, Alberta, Canada and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,238 miles (or 6,821 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 CFB Suffield 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 CFB Suffield 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 CFB Suffield (YSD):

• The furthest airport from CFB Suffield (YSD) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,339 miles (16,640 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Following the fall of Algeria to Nazi Germany, the British Army required a new training facility for carrying out experiments in chemical warfare.
• The closest airport to CFB Suffield (YSD) is Medicine Hat Airport (YXH), which is located 27 miles (43 kilometers) SE of YSD.
• The decision to designate the Suffield Block a military training facility in 1941 left tens of square kilometres of undisturbed prairie grassland intact from the effects of industrial agriculture.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• After the war, airmen of the Airframe and Engine trades continued to train at St Athan, but in 1955 this training dispersed to RAF Kirkham and RAF Weeton.
• 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.
• RAF St Athan was also home for the Royal Air Force Administrative Apprentice Training School.
• 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.
• 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 last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.
• RAF St Athan has been used to house a number of army units throughout its life and, in 2003, the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards moved from Aldershot to St Athan - the first time they have been based in Wales since they were formed in 1915.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• The MOD continued to negotiate the project with the Metrix Consortium, but the price rose several times, reaching £14 billion in mid-2009.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.