Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Carcassonne, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Carcassonne Airport (CCF), Carcassonne, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,853 miles (or 7,810 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 Carcassonne 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 Carcassonne 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):

• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• 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 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Air Defense Command activated the 740th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Rapid City AFB on 1 February 1953 under the ADC 31st Air Division.
• 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.
• 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 Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.

Facts about Carcassonne Airport (CCF):

• In addition to being known as "Carcassonne Airport", another name for CCF is "Aéroport de Carcassonne".
• In the late 1990s the airport started taking budget flights to and from European airports and in 2006 had regular flight connections with Dublin, Shannon, Stansted, Liverpool, East Midlands and Charleroi.
• The furthest airport from Carcassonne Airport (CCF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Carcassonne Airport (meaning Carcassonne Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,363 miles (19,896 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Carcassonne Airport (CCF) is Castres - Mazamet Airport (DCM), which is located 23 miles (38 kilometers) N of CCF.
• Because of Carcassonne Airport's relatively low elevation of 434 feet, planes can take off or land at Carcassonne 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.
• Carcassonne Airport (CCF) has 2 runways.