Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Brisbane Airport (BNE), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,166 miles (or 13,142 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 Brisbane 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 Brisbane 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):

• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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 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.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• 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.
• In March 1944, heavy bomber operational training ended and the 225th Army Air Force Base Unit began training of replacement personnel for deployed heavy bombardment units in the overseas combat theaters.

Facts about Brisbane Airport (BNE):

• Brisbane Airport handled 2,139,106 passengers last year.
• Brisbane Airport (BNE) has 2 runways.
• Brisbane Airport is a major hub for Virgin Australia, and a secondary hub for both Qantas and its low cost subsidiary Jetstar.
• The closest airport to Brisbane Airport (BNE) is Caloundra Airport (CUD), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) N of BNE.
• The domestic terminal has three distinct areas serving Qantas and Qantaslink at the northern end of the building and Virgin Australia at the southern end of the building with other carriers such as Jetstar, Tiger Airways and Skytrans are located in the central area of the terminal.
• The furthest airport from Brisbane Airport (BNE) is La Palma Airport (SPC), which is located 11,874 miles (19,109 kilometers) away in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain.
• Because of Brisbane Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Brisbane 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 following airlines operate scheduled cargo flights from Brisbane.