Nonstop flight route between Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from PZB to RCA:
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- About this route
- PZB Airport Information
- RCA Airport Information
- Facts about PZB
- Facts about RCA
- Map of Nearest Airports to PZB
- List of Nearest Airports to PZB
- Map of Furthest Airports from PZB
- List of Furthest Airports from PZB
- Map of Nearest Airports to RCA
- List of Nearest Airports to RCA
- Map of Furthest Airports from RCA
- List of Furthest Airports from RCA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB), Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,720 miles (or 15,643 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 Pietermaritzburg 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 Pietermaritzburg 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:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | PZB / FAPM |
| Airport Name: | Pietermaritzburg Airport |
| Location: | Pietermaritzburg, South Africa |
| GPS Coordinates: | 29°38'48"S by 30°23'53"E |
| Area Served: | Pietermaritzburg |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 2423 feet (739 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 1 |
| View all routes: | Routes from PZB |
| More Information: | PZB Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | RCA / KRCA |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Rapid City, South Dakota, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 44°8'47"N by 103°4'28"W |
| View all routes: | Routes from RCA |
| More Information: | RCA Maps & Info |
Facts about Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB):
- Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,706 miles (18,839 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
- The closest airport to Pietermaritzburg Airport (PZB) is King Shaka International (DUR), which is located 43 miles (69 kilometers) E of PZB.
Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):
- 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.
- 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.
- Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
- Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
- In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
- 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.
- 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.
