Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Chitral, Pakistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Chitral Airport (CJL), Chitral, Pakistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,898 miles (or 11,101 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 Chitral 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 Chitral 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".
• 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.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• 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 mission of the 28th Bomb Wing is to deliver decisive combat power for global response.

Facts about Chitral Airport (CJL):

• In addition to being known as "Chitral Airport", another name for CJL is "چترال ہوائی اڈا".
• The closest airport to Chitral Airport (CJL) is Razer Airport (KUR), which is located 59 miles (95 kilometers) W of CJL.
• Chitral Airport (CJL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Chitral Airport (CJL) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,830 miles (19,039 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Because of Chitral Airport's high elevation of 4,921 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at CJL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make CJL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.