Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa, Vietnam:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR), Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa, Vietnam would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,060 miles (or 12,971 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 Cam Ranh 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 Cam Ranh 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):

• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• On 1 June 1971, SAC deactivated the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division and by October of that year, an upgraded LGM-30F Minuteman II also replaced the Minuteman I missiles.
• 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.

Facts about Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR):

• Cam Ranh International Airport handled 1,509,212 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR) is Iberia Airport (IBP), which is nearly antipodal to Cam Ranh International Airport (meaning Cam Ranh International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Iberia Airport), and is located 12,340 miles (19,860 kilometers) away in Iberia, Peru.
• On May 19, 2004, after major reconstruction, the airport received its first commercial flight from Hanoi.
• Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Cam Ranh International Airport (CXR) is Lien Khuong Airport (DLI), which is located 60 miles (96 kilometers) WSW of CXR.
• In addition to being known as "Cam Ranh International Airport", another name for CXR is "Sân bay Quốc tế Cam Ranh".
• Because of Cam Ranh International Airport's relatively low elevation of 40 feet, planes can take off or land at Cam Ranh International 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.