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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Bathurst Airport (BHS), Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,578 miles (or 13,805 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 Bathurst 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 Bathurst 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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 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.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.

Facts about Bathurst Airport (BHS):

• Bathurst Airport handled 26,815 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Bathurst Airport (BHS) is Horta International Airport (HOR), which is nearly antipodal to Bathurst Airport (meaning Bathurst Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Horta International Airport), and is located 12,072 miles (19,428 kilometers) away in Horta, Azores, Portugal.
• There were 8,000 landings in 2010 which include recreational flying, business jets, charters, regular passenger flights, emergency services, and Air Force flights.
• The closest airport to Bathurst Airport (BHS) is Mudgee Airport (DGE), which is located 59 miles (94 kilometers) N of BHS.
• Bathurst Airport (BHS) has 2 runways.
• Regional Express Airlines flies Bathurst to Sydney three times daily.