Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Belmont Airport (BEO), Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,469 miles (or 13,630 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 Belmont 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 Belmont 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):

• 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 addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
• 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 is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• 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 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.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.

Facts about Belmont Airport (BEO):

• Belmont Airport is an airfield located in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Pelican, 15 km south of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
• The furthest airport from Belmont Airport (BEO) is Santa Maria Airport (SMA), which is nearly antipodal to Belmont Airport (meaning Belmont Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Maria Airport), and is located 12,112 miles (19,493 kilometers) away in Santa Maria, Portugal.
• Because of Belmont Airport's relatively low elevation of 5 feet, planes can take off or land at Belmont 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.
• Under current guidelines, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has classified Belmont as an Aircraft Landing Area as due to land constraints the site infrastructure does not meet the dimensions required to operate as a registered airport, placing some restriction on future uses for commercial passenger flights.
• Belmont Airport (BEO) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Belmont Airport (BEO) is Newcastle Airport (NTL), which is located 22 miles (35 kilometers) NNE of BEO.