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):

• On 3 November 1967, the Department of Defense revealed that GFAFB was one of 10 initial locations to host a Sentinel Anti-Ballistic Missile site.
• On 1 September 1958, the Strategic Air Command established the 4133d Strategic Wing at Grand Forks as part of its plan to disperse its B-52 heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.
• 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.
• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Corvo Airport (CVU):

• The airport is situated on the southern coast of the island, at least 50 m from the water's edge, flanking the southern limit of Vila do Corvo.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Corvo Airport (CVU) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) S of CVU.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Corvo Airport", another name for CVU is "Aeródromo de Corvo".
• Opened on 12 January 2005, SATA Gestão de Aeródromos was established to operate the smaller airports on the islands of Pico, Graciosa, Corvo and São Jorge.
• 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.
• Corvo Airport handled 3,839 passengers last year.
• Corvo Airport (CVU) currently has only 1 runway.
• Corvo Airport is an airport in the village of Vila do Corvo on the island of Corvo, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores.