Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Matsuyama Airport (MYJ), Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,994 miles (or 9,647 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 Matsuyama 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 Matsuyama 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):

• 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.
• In October 1977, the PAR came under operational control of the USAF, which operated it thereafter as part of its early warning system.
• 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.
• Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• In 1973, the 319th Bomb Wing acquired the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile, replacing the older AGM-28 Hound Dog air-to-ground missile aboard its B-52H aircraft.
• 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 was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• On 1 November 1964, 321st Strategic Missile Wing was organized as the Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile wing at GFAFB, the first in SAC.
• 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 Matsuyama Airport (MYJ):

• Matsuyama Airport (MYJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Matsuyama Airport", other names for MYJ include "松山空港" and "Matsuyama kūkō".
• The closest airport to Matsuyama Airport (MYJ) is Hiroshima Airport (HIJ), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) NNE of MYJ.
• An office park named "Biz Port" opened near the airport in 2003 to attract technology businesses, but is scheduled to close in March 2015.
• Because of Matsuyama Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Matsuyama 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 furthest airport from Matsuyama Airport (MYJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is nearly antipodal to Matsuyama Airport (meaning Matsuyama Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Rio Grande Regional Airport), and is located 12,130 miles (19,522 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.