Nonstop flight route between Bole, Xinjiang, China and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bole Alashankou Airport (BPL), Bole, Xinjiang, China and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,276 miles (or 10,100 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 Bole Alashankou 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 Bole Alashankou 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 Bole Alashankou Airport (BPL):

• The furthest airport from Bole Alashankou Airport (BPL) is Gamboa Airport (WCA), which is located 11,234 miles (18,080 kilometers) away in Castro, Chile.
• In addition to being known as "Bole Alashankou Airport", other names for BPL include "博乐阿拉山口机场" and "Bólè Ālāshānkǒu Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Bole Alashankou Airport (BPL) is Yining Airport (YIN), which is located 81 miles (130 kilometers) SW of BPL.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• Ellsworth Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota just north of Box Elder, South Dakota.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command's Twelfth Air Force.
• 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.