Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Adak Island, Alaska, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from RCA to ADK:
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- About this route
- RCA Airport Information
- ADK Airport Information
- Facts about RCA
- Facts about ADK
- Map of Nearest Airports to RCA
- List of Nearest Airports to RCA
- Map of Furthest Airports from RCA
- List of Furthest Airports from RCA
- Map of Nearest Airports to ADK
- List of Nearest Airports to ADK
- Map of Furthest Airports from ADK
- List of Furthest Airports from ADK
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Adak Airport (ADK), Adak Island, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,295 miles (or 5,302 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Adak Airport, 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Adak Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | RCA / KRCA |
Airport Names: |
|
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 |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ADK / PADK |
Airport Name: | Adak Airport |
Location: | Adak Island, Alaska, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°52'41"N by 176°38'45"W |
Area Served: | Adak Island, Alaska |
Operator/Owner: | Alaska DOT&PF - Central Region |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 18 feet (5 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from ADK |
More Information: | ADK Maps & Info |
Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):
- Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
- Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
- 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.
- 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.
- On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.
- In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
- 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.
- 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 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.
Facts about Adak Airport (ADK):
- Because of Adak Airport's relatively low elevation of 18 feet, planes can take off or land at Adak 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.
- Adak Airport (ADK) has 2 runways.
- Following the war, the AAF turned Adak over to the Navy who established anti-submarine warfare base there.
- Scheduled passenger service service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.
- The closest airport to Adak Airport (ADK) is Atka Airport (AKB), which is located 106 miles (171 kilometers) ENE of ADK.
- The furthest airport from Adak Airport (ADK) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,985 miles (17,679 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.