Nonstop flight route between Ziguinchor, Senegal and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ziguinchor Airport (ZIG), Ziguinchor, Senegal and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,168 miles (or 8,316 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 Ziguinchor 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 Ziguinchor 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 Ziguinchor Airport (ZIG):

• In addition to being known as "Ziguinchor Airport", another name for ZIG is "Aéroport de Ziguinchor".
• Ziguinchor Airport (ZIG) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Ziguinchor Airport (ZIG) is Cap Skirring Airport (CSK), which is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) WSW of ZIG.
• Because of Ziguinchor Airport's relatively low elevation of 75 feet, planes can take off or land at Ziguinchor 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 furthest airport from Ziguinchor Airport (ZIG) is Kirakira Airport (IRA), which is nearly antipodal to Ziguinchor Airport (meaning Ziguinchor Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Kirakira Airport), and is located 12,246 miles (19,708 kilometers) away in Kirakira, Makira Island, Solomon Islands.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 February 1993, ACC dropped the 319th Bomb Wing's primary nuclear mission and gave the wing the primary mission of B-1B conventional bombardment operations.
• 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 the interceptor squadrons, a Semi Automatic Ground Environment Data Center was established at Grand Forks in 1958.
• 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.