Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Frankfurt, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Frankfurt, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,744 miles (or 7,635 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 Frankfurt 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 Frankfurt 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):

• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• 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 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• 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 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 1986, the base and the 28 BMW made extensive preparations to phase out the aging B-52 fleet and become the second home for the advanced B-1B Lancer.

Facts about Frankfurt Airport (FRA):

• Frankfurt Airport handled 5,752,725 passengers last year.
• Planning for a third runway began in 1973.
• Terminal 1 is primarily used by Lufthansa, its associated companies and its Star Alliance partners.
• In 1999 a second train station, primarily for InterCityExpress long-distance trains, opened near Terminal 1 as part of the new Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
• Because of Frankfurt Airport's relatively low elevation of 364 feet, planes can take off or land at Frankfurt 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.
• In addition to being known as "Frankfurt Airport", another name for FRA is "Flughafen Frankfurt am Main".
• The furthest airport from Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,946 miles (19,225 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is Lucius D. Clay KaserneWiesbaden Army AirfieldWiesbaden Air BaseAdvanced Landing Ground Y-80Fliegerhorst Wiesbaden (WIE), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) W of FRA.
• Frankfurt Airport (FRA) has 3 runways.
• In 1962 it was decided to build an even larger terminal with a capacity of 30 million passengers per year.
• The runway officially went into operation on 20 October 2011, with an aircraft carrying Chancellor Angela Merkel performing the first landing on 21 October.
• The southern side of the airport ground was home to the Rhein-Main Air Base, which was a major air base for the United States from 1947 until 2005, when the air base was closed and the property was acquired by Fraport.
• The Frankfurt Rhein-Main Airport and Airship Base was officially opened on 8 July 1936.