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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Suzhou Guangfu Airport (SZV), Suzhou, Jiangsu, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,483 miles (or 10,434 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 Suzhou Guangfu 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 Suzhou Guangfu 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):

• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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 DC-11 SAGE blockhouse was later the headquarters of the SAC 321st Strategic Missile Wing.
• In October 1977, the PAR came under operational control of the USAF, which operated it thereafter as part of its early warning system.
• 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.
• 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 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 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.

Facts about Suzhou Guangfu Airport (SZV):

• The closest airport to Suzhou Guangfu Airport (SZV) is Sunan Shuofang International Airport (WUX), which is located only 16 miles (26 kilometers) N of SZV.
• In addition to being known as "Suzhou Guangfu Airport", other names for SZV include "苏州光福机场", "Sūzhōu Guāngfú Jīchǎng" and "ZSSV".
• The furthest airport from Suzhou Guangfu Airport (SZV) is General Justo José de Urquiza Airport (PRA), which is nearly antipodal to Suzhou Guangfu Airport (meaning Suzhou Guangfu Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from General Justo José de Urquiza Airport), and is located 12,373 miles (19,913 kilometers) away in Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina.