Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Zhongwei, Ningxia, China:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to ZHY:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- ZHY Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about ZHY
- 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 ZHY
- List of Nearest Airports to ZHY
- Map of Furthest Airports from ZHY
- List of Furthest Airports from ZHY
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Zhongwei Shapotou Airport (ZHY), Zhongwei, Ningxia, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,865 miles (or 7,830 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 Zhongwei Shapotou Airport, 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 Zhongwei Shapotou Airport. 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: | ZHY / ZLZW |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Zhongwei, Ningxia, China |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°34'22"N by 105°9'15"E |
Operator/Owner: | China West Airport Group |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 8202 feet (2,500 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from ZHY |
More Information: | ZHY Maps & Info |
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.
- The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
- Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
- In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
- 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.
- On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
- Due to RAF Fairford's location and infrastructure, the airfield is designated as a forward operating location for the US Air Force.
- 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.
Facts about Zhongwei Shapotou Airport (ZHY):
- Zhongwei Shapotou Airport (ZHY) currently has only 1 runway.
- Because of Zhongwei Shapotou Airport's high elevation of 8,202 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at ZHY. Combined with a high temperature, this could make ZHY a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
- The furthest airport from Zhongwei Shapotou Airport (ZHY) is Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP), which is nearly antipodal to Zhongwei Shapotou Airport (meaning Zhongwei Shapotou Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Carriel Sur International Airport), and is located 12,324 miles (19,834 kilometers) away in Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile.
- In addition to being known as "Zhongwei Shapotou Airport", other names for ZHY include "中卫沙坡头机场" and "Zhōngwèi Shāpōtóu Jīchǎng".
- The closest airport to Zhongwei Shapotou Airport (ZHY) is Yinchuan Hedong International Airport (INC), which is located 85 miles (137 kilometers) NE of ZHY.