Nonstop flight route between St. Mary's, Alaska, United States and Minot, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St. Mary's Airport (KSM), St. Mary's, Alaska, United States and Minot Air Force Base (MIB), Minot, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,500 miles (or 4,024 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 St. Mary's Airport and Minot 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 St. Mary's Airport and Minot 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 St. Mary's Airport (KSM):

• The closest airport to St. Mary's Airport (KSM) is Mountain Village Airport (MOU), which is located only 13 miles (20 kilometers) W of KSM.
• St. Mary's Airport (KSM) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from St. Mary's Airport (KSM) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,494 miles (16,889 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Because of St. Mary's Airport's relatively low elevation of 312 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Mary's Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.

Facts about Minot Air Force Base (MIB):

• In addition to being known as "Minot Air Force Base", another name for MIB is "Minot AFB".
• On 2 July 1969 the 862d Medical Group was renamed the USAF Hospital.
• Additionally on 12 July 2008, three Air Force officers fell asleep while in control of an electronic component that contained old launch codes for nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, a violation of procedure, Air Force officials said.
• Renamed Aerospace Defense Command in 1968, ADC F-106 operations continued at Minot until ADC was deactivated in 1979 and became a part of Tactical Air Command as a subentity referred to as Tactical Air Command – Air Defense.
• The closest airport to Minot Air Force Base (MIB) is Minot International Airport (MOT), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSE of MIB.
• The furthest airport from Minot Air Force Base (MIB) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,320 miles (16,609 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The 4th Post Attack Command & Control Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, SD maintained several EC-135 "Looking Glass" Aircraft on an alert at MAFB for coverage of the missile squadrons as a secondary Launch Control Center.