Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Simferopol, Ukraine:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Simferopol International Airport (SIP), Simferopol, Ukraine would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,369 miles (or 8,640 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 Simferopol 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 Simferopol 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):

• 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.
• 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 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Simferopol International Airport (SIP):

• In addition to being known as "Simferopol International Airport", other names for SIP include "Міжнародний аеропорт "Сімферополь"", "Международный аэропорт "Симферополь"" and "URFF".
• The closest airport to Simferopol International Airport (SIP) is Kerch Airport (KHC), which is located 120 miles (193 kilometers) ENE of SIP.
• The furthest airport from Simferopol International Airport (SIP) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,942 miles (17,609 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO didn`t recognize the airport`s take-over by Russian military forces.
• Since March 2014, all international flights to Simferopol Airport with the exception of flights originating from Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan have been cancelled or suspended due to Crimea's disputed status.
• In the early 2000s, the old runway 01R/19L was taken out of service because of its lack of length and strength.
• Because of Simferopol International Airport's relatively low elevation of 639 feet, planes can take off or land at Simferopol International 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.
• On 11 March, Russian forces took over the control tower and closed the Crimean airspace until the end of week.
• Simferopol International Airport (SIP) currently has only 1 runway.