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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO), Qingdao, Shandong, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,169 miles (or 9,927 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 Qingdao Liuting 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 Qingdao Liuting 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• During 1965, the wing’s three missile squadrons were activated and crew training and certification began at Vandenberg AFB in southern California.
• 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.
• 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 the interceptor squadrons, a Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center was established at Grand Forks in 1958.

Facts about Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO):

• Qingdao Liuting International Airport handled 12,601,152 passengers last year.
• Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Qingdao Liuting International Airport", other names for TAO include "青岛流亭国际机场" and "Qīngdǎo Liútíng Guójì Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO) is Las Flores Airport (ELB), which is nearly antipodal to Qingdao Liuting International Airport (meaning Qingdao Liuting International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Las Flores Airport), and is located 12,405 miles (19,963 kilometers) away in El Banco, Colombia.
• Because of Qingdao Liuting International Airport's relatively low elevation of 33 feet, planes can take off or land at Qingdao Liuting 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.
• The closest airport to Qingdao Liuting International Airport (TAO) is Weifang Airport (WEF), which is located 75 miles (120 kilometers) WNW of TAO.
• In 2012, Qingdao Liuting was the 17th busiest airport in China with 12,601,152 passengers.
• In December 2013, the Chinese government approved the construction of Qingdao Jiaodong International Airport which will replace Liuting as Qingdao's main airport.
• From 2004 to 2006, the airport underwent an expansion of its terminal as well as adding more parking spaces which was part of its initial 2010 goal to expand Liuting Airport to handle 5.2 million passengers annually or 2400 passengers and almost 120,000 tons of cargo hourly.