Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Madison, Wisconsin, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Dane County Regional Airport (MSN), Madison, Wisconsin, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 513 miles (or 825 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 relatively short distance between Grand Forks Air Force Base and Dane County Regional Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.
• On 18 February 1957, the 478th Fighter Group was activated at Grand Forks.
• 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 Dane County Regional Airport (MSN):

• Dane County Regional Airport handled 1,615,841 passengers last year.
• Dane County Regional Airport is a civil-military airport six miles northeast of downtown Madison the capital of Wisconsin.
• In addition to being known as "Dane County Regional Airport", another name for MSN is "Truax Field".
• Truax Field was named in honor of Lieutenant Thomas L.
• The furthest airport from Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,978 miles (17,667 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of Dane County Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 887 feet, planes can take off or land at Dane County Regional 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.
• Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) is Dodge County Airport (UNU), which is located 38 miles (60 kilometers) ENE of MSN.
• The fixed base operator is Wisconsin Aviation, which purchased the assets of the former FBO, Four Lakes Aviation, in 1994.