Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Shijiazhuang, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (SJW), Shijiazhuang, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,160 miles (or 9,913 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 Shijiazhuang Zhengding 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 Shijiazhuang Zhengding 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):

• 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.
• 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 1 November 1964, 321st Strategic Missile Wing was organized as the Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile wing at GFAFB, the first in SAC.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".

Facts about Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (SJW):

• Shijiazhuang Zhengding Airport airport was opened in 1995.
• Because of Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport's relatively low elevation of 233 feet, planes can take off or land at Shijiazhuang Zhengding 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.
• Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport is the primary airport serving Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, China.
• Shijiazhuang Airport Authority views the railway as an important tool to attract passengers to the airport not just from Shijiazhuang, but from the wider region as well.
• Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport handled 4,021,167 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (SJW) is Xingtai Dalian Airport (XNT), which is located 98 miles (157 kilometers) S of SJW.
• The furthest airport from Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (SJW) is Santa Rosa Airport (RSA), which is nearly antipodal to Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (meaning Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Rosa Airport), and is located 12,307 miles (19,807 kilometers) away in Santa Rosa, Argentina.
• In addition to being known as "Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport", other names for SJW include "石家莊正定國際機場" and "Shíjiāzhuāng Zhèngdìng Guójì Jīchǎng".
• Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport (SJW) currently has only 1 runway.