Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and San Diego / El Cajon, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to SEE:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- SEE Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about SEE
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to SEE
- List of Nearest Airports to SEE
- Map of Furthest Airports from SEE
- List of Furthest Airports from SEE
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Gillespie Field (SEE), San Diego / El Cajon, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,407 miles (or 8,701 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 RAF Fairford and Gillespie Field, 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 RAF Fairford and Gillespie Field. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure 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 |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SEE / KSEE |
Airport Name: | Gillespie Field |
Location: | San Diego / El Cajon, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 32°49'33"N by 116°58'20"W |
Area Served: | San Diego, California |
Operator/Owner: | County of San Diego |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 388 feet (118 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from SEE |
More Information: | SEE Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Facts about Gillespie Field (SEE):
- The closest airport to Gillespie Field (SEE) is Montgomery Field (MYF), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) W of SEE.
- The FAA says in 2010 Gillespie Field was the 44th busiest airport in the United States.
- The furthest airport from Gillespie Field (SEE) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,534 miles (18,562 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
- In February 1944, the camp was commissioned as Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Gillespie under the command of Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.
- Gillespie Field is a county-owned public airport 10 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, in El Cajon, San Diego County, California.
- Gillespie Field (SEE) has 3 runways.
- Because of Gillespie Field's relatively low elevation of 388 feet, planes can take off or land at Gillespie Field 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.