Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB), Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,896 miles (or 9,489 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 Afonso Pena International 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 Afonso Pena International 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):

• 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.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Ellsworth Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota just north of Box Elder, South Dakota.

Facts about Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB):

• Afonso Pena International Airport is the main airport serving Curitiba, Brazil, located in the adjoining municipality of São José dos Pinhais.
• The closest airport to Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB) is Bacacheri Airport (BFH), which is located only 10 miles (15 kilometers) NNW of CWB.
• The furthest airport from Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB) is Minami-Daito Airport (MMD), which is nearly antipodal to Afonso Pena International Airport (meaning Afonso Pena International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Minami-Daito Airport), and is located 12,402 miles (19,959 kilometers) away in Minami Daito, Okinawa, Japan.
• Afonso Pena International Airport handled 6,825,666 passengers last year.
• The main problem of the airport are the unstable weather conditions of the region, particularly fog and smog in the morning hours of winter and the fact that the auxiliary runway 11/29 is too small and plagued with old equipment.
• Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB) has 2 runways.
• Since the bottleneck for the airport is the cargo capacity, the main runway was lengthened in 2008 to allow cargo flights to operate with greater loads and the cargo terminal was upgraded.
• The original passenger terminal was in use until 1959 when a brand new terminal was built.
• In addition to being known as "Afonso Pena International Airport", another name for CWB is "Aeroporto Internacional Afonso Pena".