Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Xilinhot Airport (XIL), Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,773 miles (or 9,291 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 Xilinhot 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 Xilinhot 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 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 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• In 1973, the 319th Bomb Wing acquired the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile, replacing the older AGM-28 Hound Dog air-to-ground missile aboard its B-52H aircraft.
• Survey teams selected sites in flat wheatlands close to the Canada-Minnesota border, north-northwest of Grand Forks.
• Following the departure of the last B-1B aircraft in 1994, the base transferred to the new Air Mobility Command and the 319th Bomb Wing was redesignated as the 319th Air Refueling Wing.
• 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.
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.

Facts about Xilinhot Airport (XIL):

• The closest airport to Xilinhot Airport (XIL) is Chifeng Airport (CIF), which is located 189 miles (304 kilometers) SE of XIL.
• Xilinhot Airport (XIL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Xilinhot Airport (XIL) is Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport (REL), which is nearly antipodal to Xilinhot Airport (meaning Xilinhot Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Almirante Marcos A. Zar Airport), and is located 12,358 miles (19,887 kilometers) away in Trelew, Chubut, Argentina.
• In addition to being known as "Xilinhot Airport", other names for XIL include "锡林浩特机场" and "Xīlínhàotè Jīchǎng".