Nonstop flight route between Beijing, China and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY), Beijing, China and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,030 miles (or 9,704 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 Beijing Nanyuan 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 Beijing Nanyuan 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 Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY):

• In 2008, Nanyuan Airport witnessed a high growth rate.
• In addition to being known as "Beijing Nanyuan Airport", other names for NAY include "北京南苑机场" and "Běijīng Nányuàn Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) is Gobernador Edgardo Castello Airport (VDM), which is nearly antipodal to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (meaning Beijing Nanyuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Gobernador Edgardo Castello Airport), and is located 12,355 miles (19,884 kilometers) away in Viedma, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) is Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), which is located 23 miles (37 kilometers) NNE of NAY.
• Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• Opened 57 years ago in early 1957, the base's current host unit is the 319th Air Base Wing assigned to the Expeditionary Center of the Air Mobility Command.
• 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 1973, the 319th Bomb Wing acquired the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile, replacing the older AGM-28 Hound Dog air-to-ground missile aboard its B-52H aircraft.
• Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• 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 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.
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• In addition to the interceptor squadrons, a Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center was established at Grand Forks in 1958.