Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Ghinnir, Ethiopia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Ghinnir Airport (GNN), Ghinnir, Ethiopia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,236 miles (or 13,254 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Ghinnir 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Ghinnir 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• The closest airport to Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) S of RCA.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• The furthest airport from Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,579 miles (17,026 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• In March 1944, heavy bomber operational training ended and the 225th Army Air Force Base Unit began training of replacement personnel for deployed heavy bombardment units in the overseas combat theaters.

Facts about Ghinnir Airport (GNN):

• The closest airport to Ghinnir Airport (GNN) is Robe Airport (GOB), which is located 46 miles (74 kilometers) W of GNN.
• The furthest airport from Ghinnir Airport (GNN) is Atuona Airport (AUQ), which is nearly antipodal to Ghinnir Airport (meaning Ghinnir Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Atuona Airport), and is located 12,255 miles (19,722 kilometers) away in Atuona, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
• Because of Ghinnir Airport's high elevation of 6,499 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GNN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GNN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.