Nonstop flight route between Ulyanovsk, Russia and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY), Ulyanovsk, Russia and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,095 miles (or 8,200 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 Ulyanovsk Vostochny 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 Ulyanovsk Vostochny 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 Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY):

• In addition to being known as "Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport", another name for ULY is "Аэропорт Ульяновск-Восточный".
• Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport's relatively low elevation of 253 feet, planes can take off or land at Ulyanovsk Vostochny 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 Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY) is Ulyanovsk Baratayevka Airport (ULV), which is located 24 miles (39 kilometers) WSW of ULY.
• The furthest airport from Ulyanovsk Vostochny Airport (ULY) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,306 miles (16,585 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• 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 AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.