Nonstop flight route between Cayenne, French Guiana and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY), Cayenne, French Guiana and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,094 miles (or 6,588 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 Cayenne – Félix Eboué 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 Cayenne – Félix Eboué 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 Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY):

• Because of Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport's relatively low elevation of 24 feet, planes can take off or land at Cayenne – Félix Eboué 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 airfield of Cayenne was built in 1943 in 10 months by the American army who wanted to be able to reach Africa when flying there with its bombers.
• In 2009, passenger traffic totaled 400,025 passengers compared to 2008 with 385,142 passengers.
• The closest airport to Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) is Saül Airport (XAU), which is located 102 miles (163 kilometers) SW of CAY.
• Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport", another name for CAY is "Aéroport de Cayenne – Félix Eboué".
• The furthest airport from Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY) is Pattimura Airport (PTA) (AMQ), which is nearly antipodal to Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (meaning Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Pattimura Airport (PTA)), and is located 12,354 miles (19,882 kilometers) away in Ambon, Indonesia.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (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.
• 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 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.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.
• 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.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.