Nonstop flight route between Burnie, Tasmania, Australia and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Burnie Airport (BWT), Burnie, Tasmania, Australia and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,034 miles (or 14,538 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 Burnie 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 Burnie 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 Burnie Airport (BWT):

• Burnie Airport handled 70,402 passengers last year.
• Because of Burnie Airport's relatively low elevation of 62 feet, planes can take off or land at Burnie 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.
• In addition to being known as "Burnie Airport", another name for BWT is "Wynyard Airport".
• Burnie Airport (BWT) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Burnie Airport (BWT) is Smithton Airport (SIO), which is located 36 miles (57 kilometers) WNW of BWT.
• Until early 2000, Burnie airport had the distinction of having a railway line cross the northern end of runway 05/23, complete with flashing red signals, but without boom gates.
• Burnie Airport was ranked 49th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2010-2011.
• The furthest airport from Burnie Airport (BWT) is Corvo Airport (CVU), which is nearly antipodal to Burnie Airport (meaning Burnie Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Corvo Airport), and is located 12,247 miles (19,709 kilometers) away in Corvo Island, Azores, Portugal.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• The 12th Air Division moved to Ellsworth on 15 July 1988.
• 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.
• 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.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• 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.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• 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.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.