Nonstop flight route between Friedrichshafen, Bodensee, Germany and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH), Friedrichshafen, Bodensee, Germany and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,890 miles (or 7,869 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 Friedrichshafen 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 Friedrichshafen 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 Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH):

• In addition to being known as "Friedrichshafen Airport", another name for FDH is "Flughafen Friedrichshafen".
• Friedrichshafen can be reached from all directions via federal highways B30 and B31 which are connected to several motorways like the A96 from Munich or the A13/A14 from Austria and Switzerland.
• The furthest airport from Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Friedrichshafen Airport (meaning Friedrichshafen Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,045 miles (19,384 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The airport consists of one passenger terminal building that features eight departure gates as well as some shops and restaurants.
• Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Right next to the terminal there is a museum dedicated to the former German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Flugzeugwerke.
• The closest airport to Friedrichshafen Airport (FDH) is St. Gallen–Altenrhein Airport (ACH), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) S of FDH.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• 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.
• 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.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• 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.