Nonstop flight route between Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Matsuyama Airport (MYJ), Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,011 miles (or 9,673 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 Matsuyama 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 Matsuyama 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 Matsuyama Airport (MYJ):

• In addition to being known as "Matsuyama Airport", other names for MYJ include "松山空港" and "Matsuyama kūkō".
• The closest airport to Matsuyama Airport (MYJ) is Hiroshima Airport (HIJ), which is located 44 miles (71 kilometers) NNE of MYJ.
• Link Airs, a Fukuoka-based regional airline startup, plans to begin service to the airport in 2014.
• Matsuyama Airport is an airport located 3 NM west southwest of Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan.
• Because of Matsuyama Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Matsuyama 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 2013, the government of Ehime Prefecture and local business organizations announced that they would begin subsidizing the airport's international routes to Shanghai and Seoul, which had seen load factors of less than 50% in June 2013.
• The furthest airport from Matsuyama Airport (MYJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is nearly antipodal to Matsuyama Airport (meaning Matsuyama Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Rio Grande Regional Airport), and is located 12,130 miles (19,522 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• The airport opened as an Imperial Japanese Navy airfield in 1941, and became a state-administered civil airport in 1958.
• Matsuyama Airport (MYJ) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• 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".
• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.
• The 12th Air Division moved to Ellsworth on 15 July 1988.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.