Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Covilhã, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Covilhã Airport (COV), Covilhã, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,233 miles (or 6,813 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 Covilhã 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 Covilhã 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• In March 1995, the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission selected the 321st Strategic Missile Wing for inactivation.
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.

Facts about Covilhã Airport (COV):

• The closest airport to Covilhã Airport (COV) is Coimbra Airport (CBP), which is located 53 miles (85 kilometers) W of COV.
• Covilhã Airport (COV) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Covilhã Airport (COV) is Takaka Aerodrome (KTF), which is nearly antipodal to Covilhã Airport (meaning Covilhã Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Takaka Aerodrome), and is located 12,390 miles (19,940 kilometers) away in Takaka, New Zealand.