Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Avalon, Victoria, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Avalon Airport (AVV), Avalon, Victoria, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,337 miles (or 15,026 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 Grand Forks Air Force Base and Avalon Airport, 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 Grand Forks Air Force Base and Avalon Airport. 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 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• On 3 September 1974, the SAFSCOM Site Activation Team was relieved by the U.S.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Avalon Airport (AVV):

• Because of Avalon Airport's relatively low elevation of 115 feet, planes can take off or land at Avalon 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.
• The Avalon Maintenance Facility is the first in Australia to develop and carry out a program for converting B737-300 passenger aircraft to freighters for Australian Air Express operations and is responsible for the modification of the new Premium Economy product for Qantas’ B747-400fleet.
• Training of pilots from Japan's All Nippon Airways commenced at the airport on 8 September 1993.
• The furthest airport from Avalon Airport (AVV) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is nearly antipodal to Avalon Airport (meaning Avalon Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Flores Airport), and is located 12,165 miles (19,578 kilometers) away in Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Avalon Airport (AVV) is Geelong Airport (GEX), which is located only 16 miles (25 kilometers) SE of AVV.
• The first scheduled passenger flights out of the airport were operated by Hazelton Airlines, who commenced flights between Avalon Airport and Sydney in February 1995.
• International Operations
• In addition to being known as "Avalon Airport", another name for AVV is "Melbourne/Avalon".
• Avalon Airport is the second busiest of the four airports serving Melbourne and is located in Avalon, Victoria, Australia, 50 km to the south-west of the state capital Melbourne and 15 km north-east of the city of Geelong.
• Avalon Airport (AVV) currently has only 1 runway.
• Unlike Melbourne Airport, which is governed by the Commonwealth Airports Act, Avalon Airport falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defence, and is privately leased by Linfox Group.