Nonstop flight route between Butare, Rwanda and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Butare Airport (BTQ), Butare, Rwanda and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,011 miles (or 12,893 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 Butare 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 Butare 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 Butare Airport (BTQ):

• The closest airport to Butare Airport (BTQ) is Kirundo Airport (KRE), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) E of BTQ.
• The furthest airport from Butare Airport (BTQ) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is located 11,946 miles (19,224 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.
• In addition to being known as "Butare Airport", another name for BTQ is "Butare".
• Butare Airport (BTQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Butare Airport's high elevation of 5,801 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at BTQ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make BTQ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Butare Airport is a small civilian airport that serves the town of Butare.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (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.
• 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.
• Opened 57 years ago in early 1957, the base's current host unit is the 319th Air Base Wing assigned to the Expeditionary Center of the Air Mobility Command.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• The 319th transitioned from B-52H to re-engined B-52G aircraft in 1983, and added the AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile in 1984.
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.