Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Corvo Island, Azores, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Corvo Airport (CVU), Corvo Island, Azores, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,251 miles (or 5,231 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 Corvo 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 Corvo 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):

• 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.
• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 3 September 1974, the SAFSCOM Site Activation Team was relieved by the U.S.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in northeastern North Dakota, located north of Emerado and 16 miles west of Grand Forks.
• On 18 February 1957, the 478th Fighter Group was activated at Grand Forks.

Facts about Corvo Airport (CVU):

• The furthest airport from Corvo Airport (CVU) is Flinders Island Airport (FLS), which is nearly antipodal to Corvo Airport (meaning Corvo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Flinders Island Airport), and is located 12,381 miles (19,926 kilometers) away in Flinders Island, Tasmania, Australia.
• In 2009, with the addition of new De Havilland Dash 8-Q200 to the SATA Air Açores fleet, to replace the existing Dornier Do 228, there was a comparable increase in passenger traffic to the island.
• Corvo Airport (CVU) currently has only 1 runway.
• SATA, the airport's manager, launched a competition to remodel and expand the aerodrome on 13 August 2013, that includes improvements to security, passenger comfort and inter-island travel.
• The closest airport to Corvo Airport (CVU) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) S of CVU.
• Corvo Airport handled 3,839 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Corvo Airport", another name for CVU is "Aeródromo de Corvo".
• Because of Corvo Airport's relatively low elevation of 62 feet, planes can take off or land at Corvo 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.