Nonstop flight route between Barcelonnette / Saint-Pons, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport (BAE), Barcelonnette / Saint-Pons, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,573 miles (or 7,360 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 Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons 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 Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons 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 Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport (BAE):

• Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport (BAE) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport (BAE) is Cuneo International Airport (CUF), which is located 51 miles (82 kilometers) ENE of BAE.
• The furthest airport from Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport (BAE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport (meaning Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,280 miles (19,762 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Barcelonnette - Saint-Pons Airport", another name for BAE is "Aéroport de Barcelonnette-Saint-Pons".

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• 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.
• In October 1977, the PAR came under operational control of the USAF, which operated it thereafter as part of its early warning system.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.