Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Surat, Gujarat, India:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Surat Airport (STV), Surat, Gujarat, India would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,625 miles (or 12,271 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 Surat 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 Surat 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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 Surat Airport (STV):

• In addition to being known as "Surat Airport", another name for STV is "સુરત એરપોર્ટ".
• Until 2007, Surat was the only city in the world with a population of over 4.6 million people without a functioning airport.
• A new Surat airport terminal building was inaugurated on 27 February 2009 by Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dinsha Patel, in the absence of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who had to cancel his visit due to unavoidable circumstances.
• The Airport Authority of India announced that the Airport required 864 hectares of land, and the Gujarat government has allocated such land for the development.
• The closest airport to Surat Airport (STV) is Daman Airport (NMB), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) S of STV.
• Surat Airport is built by the State government of Gujarat.
• Because of Surat Airport's relatively low elevation of 16 feet, planes can take off or land at Surat 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 Surat Airport (STV) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,997 miles (19,308 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.