Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Alta, Norway:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Alta Airport (ALF), Alta, Norway would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,107 miles (or 6,610 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 Alta 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 Alta Airport. 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 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.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• 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 Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.

Facts about Alta Airport (ALF):

• Alta Airport's catchment area includes Kautokeino, which has no airport.
• The furthest airport from Alta Airport (ALF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,502 miles (16,901 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• SAS Commuter was established in 1988 and started operations in Northern Norway in May 1990, making Alta its central hub for Finnmark.
• The airport is served by Norwegian Air Shuttle and Scandinavian Airlines with Boeing 737 aircraft on flights to Tromsø and Oslo.
• Because of Alta Airport's relatively low elevation of 10 feet, planes can take off or land at Alta 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 Alta Airport (ALF) is Lakselv Airport, Banak (LKL), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) E of ALF.
• In addition to being known as "Alta Airport", another name for ALF is "Alta lufthavn".
• Alta Airport is served by three scheduled airlines and two charter airlines, providing services to eleven destinations, including two abroad.
• Alta Airport (ALF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Alta Airport handled 353,051 passengers last year.
• SAS bought Braathens in 2001, resulting in the latter taking over the service to Oslo starting on 1 April 2002.
• Local politicians started discussing the airfield plans again in the mid-1950s, and an airport for Alta was included in the national airport plan launched in 1956.