Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Albany, Western Australia, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Albany Airport (ALH), Albany, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,193 miles (or 16,404 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 Albany 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 Albany 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):

• 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.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• 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 addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.

Facts about Albany Airport (ALH):

• In addition to being known as "Albany Airport", another name for ALH is "Harry Riggs Albany Regional Airport".
• Albany Airport (ALH) has 2 runways.
• Albany Airport handled 56,002 passengers last year.
• The airport services 18 Virgin Australia flights per week transporting over 50,000 passengers per year.
• The furthest airport from Albany Airport (ALH) is L.F. Wade International Airport (BDA), which is nearly antipodal to Albany Airport (meaning Albany Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from L.F. Wade International Airport), and is located 12,208 miles (19,647 kilometers) away in Ferry Reach (near Hamilton), Bermuda.
• The closest airport to Albany Airport (ALH) is Katanning Airport (KNI), which is located 86 miles (139 kilometers) N of ALH.
• Albany Airport was ranked 57th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2010-2011.
• Because of Albany Airport's relatively low elevation of 233 feet, planes can take off or land at Albany 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.