Nonstop flight route between Gitega, Burundi and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Gitega Airport (GID), Gitega, Burundi and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,065 miles (or 12,979 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 Gitega 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 Gitega 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 Gitega Airport (GID):

• The furthest airport from Gitega Airport (GID) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is located 11,925 miles (19,192 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.
• Because of Gitega Airport's high elevation of 5,741 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GID. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GID a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Gitega Airport (GID) is Bujumbura International Airport (BJM), which is located 42 miles (68 kilometers) W of GID.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.
• 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.
• 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".
• During the Cold War, GFAFB was a major installation of the Strategic Air Command, with B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers, and Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles.
• 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.
• 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.