Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Tusayan, Arizona, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN), Tusayan, Arizona, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 741 miles (or 1,193 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 relatively short distance between Ellsworth Air Force Base and Grand Canyon National Park Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• 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 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.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".

Facts about Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN):

• The furthest airport from Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,285 miles (18,162 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 294,436 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008 and 354,624 enplanements in 2007.
• The closest airport to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) is Valle Airport (VLE), which is located 21 miles (34 kilometers) S of GCN.
• Historically, Grand Canyon National Park Airport had scheduled passenger jet service provided at different times in the past provided by several airlines which included Republic Airlines, Hughes Airwest, Air West and TriStar Airlines.
• Because of Grand Canyon National Park Airport's high elevation of 6,609 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at GCN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make GCN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Today, the airport is the third most active air carrier airport in the Arizona, following Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Tucson International Airport.
• Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) currently has only 1 runway.
• On August 16, 2009, Air Force One, carrying President Barack Obama landed at Grand Canyon Airport at about 10am local time, for a four hour visit of the Canyon by the President and his family.