Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Mercedes, Corrientes, Argentina:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Mercedes Airport (MDX), Mercedes, Corrientes, Argentina would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,863 miles (or 9,436 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 Mercedes 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 Mercedes 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):

• 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.
• 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".
• 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.
• In addition to the interceptor squadrons, a Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center was established at Grand Forks in 1958.
• 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.
• The 4133d SW was redesignated as the 319th Bombardment Wing on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesigation and was assigned to SAC's Second Air Force, 810th Strategic Aerospace Division.
• The DC-11 SAGE blockhouse was later the headquarters of the SAC 321st Strategic Missile Wing.
• 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.

Facts about Mercedes Airport (MDX):

• In addition to being known as "Mercedes Airport", other names for MDX include "Mercedes Airport (Mercedes)" and "Aeropuerto Mercedes".
• Mercedes Airport (MDX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Mercedes Airport (MDX) is Ningbo Lishe International Airport (NGB), which is nearly antipodal to Mercedes Airport (meaning Mercedes Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ningbo Lishe International Airport), and is located 12,387 miles (19,935 kilometers) away in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China.
• Because of Mercedes Airport's relatively low elevation of 351 feet, planes can take off or land at Mercedes 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 closest airport to Mercedes Airport (MDX) is Curuzú Cuatiá Airport (UZU), which is located 39 miles (62 kilometers) S of MDX.