Nonstop flight route between Greeley, Colorado, United States and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Greeley-Weld County Airport (GXY), Greeley, Colorado, United States and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 268 miles (or 432 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 relatively short distance between Greeley-Weld County Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Greeley-Weld County Airport (GXY):

• Greeley–Weld County Airport covers an area of 1,198 acres at an elevation of 4,697 feet above mean sea level.
• The furthest airport from Greeley-Weld County Airport (GXY) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,842 miles (17,448 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Greeley–Weld County Airport is a public use airport located three nautical miles east of the central business district of Greeley, a city in Weld County, Colorado, United States.
• Because of Greeley-Weld County Airport's high elevation of 4,697 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GXY. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GXY a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Greeley-Weld County Airport (GXY) is Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) W of GXY.
• Greeley-Weld County Airport (GXY) has 2 runways.

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.
• On 1 June 1971, SAC deactivated the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division and by October of that year, an upgraded LGM-30F Minuteman II also replaced the Minuteman I missiles.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• 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 base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".