Nonstop flight route between Jakar, Bumthang, Bhutan and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bathpalathang Airport (BUT), Jakar, Bumthang, Bhutan and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,194 miles (or 11,578 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 Bathpalathang 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 Bathpalathang 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 Bathpalathang Airport (BUT):

• The furthest airport from Bathpalathang Airport (BUT) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is located 11,332 miles (18,237 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
• The closest airport to Bathpalathang Airport (BUT) is Paro International Airport (PBH), which is located 82 miles (132 kilometers) W of BUT.
• Bathpalathang Airport (BUT) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Bathpalathang Airport's high elevation of 8,858 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at BUT. Combined with a high temperature, this could make BUT a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The airport has been in development since the Royal Bhutanese Government's 10th Five Year Plan.
• Both Drukair and Tashi Air conducted inaugural flights to Bathpalathang on 17 December 2011—coinciding with the national day of Bhutan.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• Following the departure of the last B-1B aircraft in 1994, the base transferred to the new Air Mobility Command and the 319th Bomb Wing was redesignated as the 319th Air Refueling Wing.
• On 1 September 1958, the Strategic Air Command established the 4133d Strategic Wing at Grand Forks as part of its plan to disperse its B-52 heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• SAGE operations were extremely expansive and GFADS was inactivated on 1 December 1963, when it was merged with the Minot Air Defense Sector at Minot AFB to the west.
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.