Nonstop flight route between Monbetsu, Hokkaidō, Japan and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE), Monbetsu, Hokkaidō, Japan and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,074 miles (or 8,166 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 Okhotsk Monbetsu 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 Okhotsk Monbetsu 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 Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE):

• In addition to being known as "Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport", other names for MBE include "オホーツク紋別空港" and "Ohōtsuku Monbetsu Kūkō".
• The furthest airport from Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE) is Port Stanley Airport (PSY), which is located 11,338 miles (18,247 kilometers) away in Stanley, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom.
• The closest airport to Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE) is Memanbetsu Airport (MMB), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) SE of MBE.
• Because of Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport's relatively low elevation of 58 feet, planes can take off or land at Okhotsk Monbetsu 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.
• Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport (MBE) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• In March 1995, the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission selected the 321st Strategic Missile Wing for inactivation.
• 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.
• The 4133d SW was redesignated as the 319th Bombardment Wing on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesigation and was assigned to SAC's Second Air Force, 810th Strategic Aerospace Division.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 3 September 1974, the SAFSCOM Site Activation Team was relieved by the U.S.