Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Olbia, Italy:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB), Olbia, Italy would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,850 miles (or 7,805 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 Olbia Costa Smeralda 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 Olbia Costa Smeralda 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 18 February 1957, the 478th Fighter Group was activated at Grand Forks.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in northeastern North Dakota, located north of Emerado and 16 miles west of Grand Forks.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 1 February 1993, ACC dropped the 319th Bomb Wing's primary nuclear mission and gave the wing the primary mission of B-1B conventional bombardment operations.
• 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.

Facts about Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB):

• In addition to being known as "Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport", another name for OLB is "Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda".
• The furthest airport from Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (meaning Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,071 miles (19,426 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport's relatively low elevation of 37 feet, planes can take off or land at Olbia Costa Smeralda 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 Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (OLB) is Figari-Sud Corse Airport (Figari South Corsica Airport) (FSC), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) NNW of OLB.
• Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport handled 1,887,640 passengers last year.