Nonstop flight route between Tulcán, Ecuador and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (TUA), Tulcán, Ecuador and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,464 miles (or 5,575 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 Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport and Grand Forks Air Force Base, 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 Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport and Grand Forks Air Force Base. 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 Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (TUA):

• The furthest airport from Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (TUA) is Depati Parbo Airport (KRC), which is nearly antipodal to Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (meaning Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Depati Parbo Airport), and is located 12,331 miles (19,845 kilometers) away in Kerinci, Indonesia.
• The closest airport to Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (TUA) is San Luis Airport (IPI), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) NE of TUA.
• Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport (TUA) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Teniente Coronel Luis A Mantilla International Airport's high elevation of 9,649 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at TUA. Combined with a high temperature, this could make TUA a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• On 3 November 1967, the Department of Defense revealed that GFAFB was one of 10 initial locations to host a Sentinel Anti-Ballistic Missile site.
• On 18 February 1957, the 478th Fighter Group was activated at 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.
• 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 1 September 1958, the Strategic Air Command established the 4133d Strategic Wing at Grand Forks as part of its plan to disperse its B-52 heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.
• 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.
• Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• 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.