Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Shangri-La, Yunnan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG), Shangri-La, Yunnan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,262 miles (or 11,687 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 Dêqên Shangri-La 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 Dêqên Shangri-La 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):

• 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.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
• 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.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.
• 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.
• On 2 January 1942, the U.S.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.

Facts about Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG):

• The furthest airport from Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is located 11,866 miles (19,096 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
• The closest airport to Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG) is Lijiang Sanyi Airport (LJG), which is located 85 miles (136 kilometers) SSE of DIG.
• In addition to being known as "Dêqên Shangri-La Airport", other names for DIG include "迪庆香格里拉机场" and "Díqìng Xiānggélǐlā Jīchǎng".
• Dêqên Shangri-La Airport (DIG) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Dêqên Shangri-La Airport's high elevation of 10,761 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at DIG. Combined with a high temperature, this could make DIG a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.