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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Arba Minch Airport (AMH), Arba Minch, Ethiopia and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,194 miles (or 13,187 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 Arba Minch Airport and Ellsworth 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 Arba Minch Airport and Ellsworth 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 Arba Minch Airport (AMH):

• The closest airport to Arba Minch Airport (AMH) is Baco Airport (Jinka Airport) (BCO), which is located 73 miles (117 kilometers) WSW of AMH.
• Arba Minch Airport is an airport serving Arba Minch, a city in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia.
• Air Force notes in its 2012/13 annual survey of units that the 409th Air Expeditionary Group operates ISR aircraft from unspecified locations in the United States Air Forces Africa area of responsibility.
• The furthest airport from Arba Minch Airport (AMH) is Atuona Airport (AUQ), which is nearly antipodal to Arba Minch Airport (meaning Arba Minch Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Atuona Airport), and is located 12,090 miles (19,457 kilometers) away in Atuona, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia.
• Arba Minch Airport (AMH) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• To provide air defense of the base, the United States Army established the Ellsworth AFB Defense Area in 1957 and constructed Nike-Ajax Surface-to-air missile sites for air defense.
• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• The airfield was again temporarily shut down from September 1946 – March 1947 and underwent a major construction program to upgrade the temporary wartime facilities to that of a permanent base.
• 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.