Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Columbia, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FFD to COA:
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- About this route
- FFD Airport Information
- COA Airport Information
- Facts about FFD
- Facts about COA
- 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 COA
- List of Nearest Airports to COA
- Map of Furthest Airports from COA
- List of Furthest Airports from COA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Columbia Airport (COA), Columbia, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,221 miles (or 8,402 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 Columbia 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 Columbia 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: | COA / |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Columbia, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 38°1'50"N by 120°24'51"W |
Operator/Owner: | County of Tuolumne |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 2118 feet (646 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from COA |
More Information: | COA Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):
- KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
- The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
- 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.
- On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
- In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
- 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 Columbia Airport (COA):
- In addition to being known as "Columbia Airport", other names for COA include "none" and "O22".
- The furthest airport from Columbia Airport (COA) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,273 miles (18,143 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- Columbia Airport (COA) has 2 runways.
- The closest airport to Columbia Airport (COA) is Modesto City-County Airport (MOD), which is located 41 miles (65 kilometers) SW of COA.