Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Timika, Papua, Indonesia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM), Timika, Papua, Indonesia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,059 miles (or 12,969 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 Mozes Kilangin 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 Mozes Kilangin 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The 319th transitioned from B-52H to re-engined B-52G aircraft in 1983, and added the AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missile in 1984.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• In October 1977, the PAR came under operational control of the USAF, which operated it thereafter as part of its early warning system.

Facts about Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM):

• The shooting was allegedly sparked when an army transporter, carrying 2 dead soldiers, who, according to differing reports, were either killed by OPM members during the hostage rescue operation, or hacked to death by villagers who had accused them of raping two women, made a fuel stop at Timika airport, and Lieutenant Sanurip realised that one of the two was a friend of his.
• On April 15, 1996 at about 5 a.m., Second Lieutenant Sanurip, 36, a member of Kopassus, who was assigned to take part at a military operation to secure the release of 11 hostages being held by the Free Papua Movement, began shooting indiscriminately with an automatic weapon at people near an army-run aircraft hangar.
• The closest airport to Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM) is Enarotali Airport (EWI), which is located 54 miles (88 kilometers) NW of TIM.
• Sanurip was sentenced to death on April 23, 1997.
• The furthest airport from Mozes Kilangin Airport (TIM) is Marechal Cunha Machado International Airport (Tirirical) (SLZ), which is located 11,939 miles (19,214 kilometers) away in São Luís, Brazil.