Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Yulara, Northern Territory, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ), Yulara, Northern Territory, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,166 miles (or 14,751 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 Ayers Rock 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 Ayers Rock 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):

• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• 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 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.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.

Facts about Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ):

• On 6 August 2000, an Ansett Airbus A320-211, arrived from Auckland Airport, New Zealand, carrying the Sydney Olympic Torch for its inaugural Australian leg.
• Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ) is Barbuda Codrington Airport (BBQ), which is located 11,463 miles (18,448 kilometers) away in Codrington, Barbuda, Antigua and Barbuda.
• The closest airport to Ayers Rock Airport (AYQ) is Alice Springs Airport (ASP), which is located 207 miles (333 kilometers) ENE of AYQ.
• Ayers Rock Airport is situated near Yulara, around 463 km away from Alice Springs, Northern Territory, and 20 minutes drive from Uluru itself.
• Ayers Rock Airport handled 309,089 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Ayers Rock Airport", other names for AYQ include "Connellan Airport" and "Ayers Rock/Connellan Airport".
• The main users of the airport are light aircraft – either charter, scenic flights or private owned aircraft.