Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Dortmund Airport (DTM), Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,643 miles (or 7,472 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 Dortmund 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 Dortmund 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):

• On 2 January 1942, the U.S.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.
• 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.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.

Facts about Dortmund Airport (DTM):

• The closest airport to Dortmund Airport (DTM) is Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) WSW of DTM.
• In addition to being known as "Dortmund Airport", another name for DTM is "Flughafen Dortmund".
• The furthest airport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,872 miles (19,106 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Travellers with destination Düsseldorf main station need to catch the AirportShuttle bus to nearby Holzwickede station.
• The first mass carrier at Dortmund Airport was Air Berlin, which began flights to London, Milan, and Vienna in 2002, supplementing its leisure routes to the Mediterranean.
• From late 2000 onwards, Dortmund Airport has experienced a drastic increase in air traffic.
• Dortmund Airport (DTM) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Dortmund Airport's relatively low elevation of 425 feet, planes can take off or land at Dortmund 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.