Nonstop flight route between Windhoek, Namibia and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Eros Airport (ERS), Windhoek, Namibia and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,485 miles (or 13,655 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 Eros 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 Eros 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 Eros Airport (ERS):

• Eros Airport (ERS) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Eros Airport", another name for ERS is "Windhoek Eros Airport".
• The furthest airport from Eros Airport (ERS) is PMRF Barking Sands (BKH), which is nearly antipodal to Eros Airport (meaning Eros Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from PMRF Barking Sands), and is located 12,232 miles (19,686 kilometers) away in Kekaha, Hawaii, United States.
• Eros is an alternate for Windhoek International Airport in VMC conditions.
• The closest airport to Eros Airport (ERS) is Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) ENE of ERS.
• Because of Eros Airport's high elevation of 5,575 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at ERS. Combined with a high temperature, this could make ERS a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• 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.
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• With the restructuring of the Air Force and the disestablishment of SAC in 1992, the wing transferred to Air Combat Command, then came under Air Force Space Command in 1993.
• 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.
• 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.