Nonstop flight route between Dali, Yunnan, China and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Dali Airport (DLU), Dali, Yunnan, China and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,392 miles (or 11,896 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 Dali 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 Dali 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 Dali Airport (DLU):

• The furthest airport from Dali Airport (DLU) is Chañaral Airport (CNR), which is located 11,871 miles (19,105 kilometers) away in Chañaral, Atacama Region, Chile.
• Dali Airport handled 274,486 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Dali Airport", other names for DLU include "大理机场" and "Dàlǐ Jīchǎng".
• Because of Dali Airport's high elevation of 7,050 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at DLU. Combined with a high temperature, this could make DLU a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Dali Airport (DLU) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Dali Airport (DLU) is Lijiang Sanyi Airport (LJG), which is located 71 miles (115 kilometers) N of DLU.

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• In 1986, the base and the 28 BMW made extensive preparations to phase out the aging B-52 fleet and become the second home for the advanced B-1B Lancer.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.