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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Colorado Plains Regional Airport (AKO), Akron, Colorado, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 274 miles (or 442 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Colorado Plains Regional Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Colorado Plains Regional Airport (AKO):

• Because of Colorado Plains Regional Airport's high elevation of 4,714 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at AKO. Combined with a high temperature, this could make AKO a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Colorado Plains Regional Airport (AKO) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,818 miles (17,410 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Colorado Plains Regional Airport (AKO) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Colorado Plains Regional Airport (AKO) is Sidney Municipal Airport (SNY), which is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) N of AKO.