Nonstop flight route between Upington, South Africa and Minot, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa and Minot Air Force Base (MIB), Minot, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,127 miles (or 14,689 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 Upington Airport and Minot 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 Upington Airport and Minot 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 Upington Airport (UTN):

• Many major car manufacturers bring their cars and commercial vehicles to Upington to test them in the hot dry and sunny conditions.
• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• From August 1976 to December 1996, South African Airways made use of Upington as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 flights to London and Zurich.
• As well as improvements to the airport itself, ACSA will be preparing land around the airport for development to support the inevitable boost to the local economy.
• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.

Facts about Minot Air Force Base (MIB):

• The 4th Post Attack Command & Control Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, SD maintained several EC-135 "Looking Glass" Aircraft on an alert at MAFB for coverage of the missile squadrons as a secondary Launch Control Center.
• The closest airport to Minot Air Force Base (MIB) is Minot International Airport (MOT), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSE of MIB.
• The 91st Missile Wing was transferred to the new Global Strike Command on 1 December 2009, and the 5th BW officially transferred to AFGSC on 1 February 2010.
• Command of Minot AFB passed from Air Defense Command to SAC in July 1962 as the base's primary mission changed from air defense to strategic deterrence.
• In addition to being known as "Minot Air Force Base", another name for MIB is "Minot AFB".
• The furthest airport from Minot Air Force Base (MIB) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,320 miles (16,609 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• In 1961, the Air Force selected the land around Minot for a new Minuteman I ICBM complex.
• The ADC 32d Fighter Group was the first operational unit at Minot, with its 433d Fighter-Interceptor squadron.
• The scope of operations grew as the Air Force transferred the 525th Bombardment Squadron from the 19th Bombardment Wing at Homestead AFB, Florida, on 8 March 1961, followed by the first B-52H Stratofortress on 10 July 1961, nicknamed "Peace Persuader".
• A Semi Automatic Ground Environment facility was built and activated in June 1961.