Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Kigali, Rwanda:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Kigali International Airport (KGL), Kigali, Rwanda would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,992 miles (or 12,862 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 Kigali International 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 Kigali International 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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".
• On 18 February 1957, the 478th Fighter Group was activated at Grand Forks.
• Following the departure of the last B-1B aircraft in 1994, the base transferred to the new Air Mobility Command and the 319th Bomb Wing was redesignated as the 319th Air Refueling Wing.
• In October 1977, the PAR came under operational control of the USAF, which operated it thereafter as part of its early warning system.

Facts about Kigali International Airport (KGL):

• Check in Desk in 2012
• The airport is located in the suburb of Kanombe, at the eastern edge of Kigali, approximately 14 kilometres, by road, east of the central business district of the city of Kigali.
• The furthest airport from Kigali International Airport (KGL) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is located 11,920 miles (19,183 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.
• Because of Kigali International Airport's high elevation of 4,891 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KGL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KGL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Rwandair has its head office on the top floor of the airport's main building.
• There are plans to replace the current airport with a new one located south of Kigali on the south side of the Nyabarongo River in Bugesera.
• The closest airport to Kigali International Airport (KGL) is Kirundo Airport (KRE), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) S of KGL.
• Kigali International Airport (KGL) currently has only 1 runway.