Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Ciudad Real, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Ciudad Real Central Airport (CQM), Ciudad Real, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,809 miles (or 7,739 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 Ciudad Real Central 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 Ciudad Real Central 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):

• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• The 12th Air Division moved to Ellsworth on 15 July 1988.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.

Facts about Ciudad Real Central Airport (CQM):

• An episode of Top Gear aired on 14 July 2013 featuring Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond visiting the empty terminal building during a "budget convertible" challenge in Spain and racing a McLaren MP4-12C Spider, Audi R8 V10 Spider and Ferrari 458 Spider on the closed runway while being amazed at finding the entire airport deserted.
• The furthest airport from Ciudad Real Central Airport (CQM) is Taupo AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Taupō (TUO), which is nearly antipodal to Ciudad Real Central Airport (meaning Ciudad Real Central Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Taupo AirportTe Papa Waka Rererangi o Taupō), and is located 12,428 miles (20,001 kilometers) away in Taupo, New Zealand.
• Ciudad Real Central Airport (CQM) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Ciudad Real Central Airport", other names for CQM include "Aeropuerto Central Ciudad Real" and "CQM [1]".
• The closest airport to Ciudad Real Central Airport (CQM) is Córdoba Airport (ODB), which is located 84 miles (136 kilometers) SW of CQM.
• International flights to the airport began in June 2010, but by October that year all international routes were cancelled, and the airport filed for bankruptcy with more than 300 million euro of debt.
• In April 2012, the airport was closed after just three years in operation, its management company having gone into receivership.