Nonstop flight route between Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Alice Springs Airport (ASP), Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,194 miles (or 14,796 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 Alice Springs Airport and Grand Forks Air Force Base, 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 Alice Springs Airport and Grand Forks Air Force Base. 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 Alice Springs Airport (ASP):

• On 5 October 1921 the first aircraft landed at the original airport located in the Alice Springs township.
• During 2010–11 a total of 640,519 domestic passengers passed through Alice Springs Airport making it the 18th busiest in Australia.
• Alice Springs Airport (ASP) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Alice Springs Airport (ASP) is Cowra Airport (CWT), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) E of ASP.
• Alice Springs Airport was the site of the resolution of Australia's first domestic aircraft hijacking.
• On 27 May 2011 it was announced that Alice Springs Airport had been selected to be the first large-scale aircraft "boneyard" outside the United States, with the first aircraft for storage to arrive early in 2012.
• On 1 April 1989 the Federal Airports Corporation assumed control of the airport.
• Alice Springs Airport handled 598,749 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Alice Springs Airport (ASP) is Barbuda Codrington Airport (BBQ), which is located 11,336 miles (18,243 kilometers) away in Codrington, Barbuda, Antigua and Barbuda.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• On 3 November 1967, the Department of Defense revealed that GFAFB was one of 10 initial locations to host a Sentinel Anti-Ballistic Missile site.
• The closest airport to Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Grand Forks International Airport (GFK), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) E of RDR.
• The furthest airport from Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,504 miles (16,904 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The DC-11 SAGE blockhouse was later the headquarters of the SAC 321st Strategic Missile Wing.
• On 26 May 1972, President Nixon and Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty, which limited each nation to one site to protect strategic forces and one site to protect the "National Command Authority." With work about 85 percent complete at Grand Forks, the United States chose to finish construction at the North Dakota site.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• Due to the continuance of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, GFAFB was originally an Air Defense Command fighter-interceptor air base.