Nonstop flight route between Pau, France and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Pau Pyrénées Airport (PUF), Pau, France and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,743 miles (or 7,633 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 Pau Pyrénées 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 Pau Pyrénées 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 Pau Pyrénées Airport (PUF):

• In addition to being known as "Pau Pyrénées Airport", another name for PUF is "Aéroport Pau Pyrénées".
• Pau Pyrénées Airport (PUF) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Pau Pyrénées Airport (PUF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Pau Pyrénées Airport (meaning Pau Pyrénées Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,236 miles (19,692 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of Pau Pyrénées Airport's relatively low elevation of 616 feet, planes can take off or land at Pau Pyrénées 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 closest airport to Pau Pyrénées Airport (PUF) is Tarbes–Lourdes–Pyrénées Airport (LDE), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) ESE of PUF.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• 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.
• 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.
• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.