Nonstop flight route between Ardmore, New Zealand and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ardmore Airport (AMZ), Ardmore, New Zealand and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,589 miles (or 12,213 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 Ardmore 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 Ardmore 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 Ardmore Airport (AMZ):

• Ardmore Airport (AMZ) has 3 runways.
• The airfield is serviced by two R-NAV arrivals, one for each runway.
• Ardmore Airport is an airport 3 NM southeast of Manurewa in Auckland, New Zealand.
• The airfield has a circuit height of 1,100 ft for fixed wing aircraft, 800 ft for helicopters.
• Because of Ardmore Airport's relatively low elevation of 111 feet, planes can take off or land at Ardmore 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 Ardmore Airport (AMZ) is Auckland Airport (AKL), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) W of AMZ.
• The furthest airport from Ardmore Airport (AMZ) is Málaga Airport (AGP), which is nearly antipodal to Ardmore Airport (meaning Ardmore Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Málaga Airport), and is located 12,399 miles (19,954 kilometers) away in Málaga, Spain.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• 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.
• 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 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• 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 Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.
• On 2 January 1942, the U.S.
• Military organizations periodically upgrade manpower and machines from time to time to meet new national security requirements and Ellsworth Air Force Base's organizations were no exception.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.