Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Geraldton Airport (GET), Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,112 miles (or 16,274 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 Geraldton 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 Geraldton 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):

• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• 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 Geraldton Airport (GET):

• Dunns Aerial Spraying & Spreading Service provides crop dusting services from the airport for up to nine months of each year.
• Flying training squadrons from RAAF Base Pearce also use Geraldton Airport.
• Geraldton Airport (GET) has 3 runways.
• Because of Geraldton Airport's relatively low elevation of 121 feet, planes can take off or land at Geraldton 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.
• Midwest Aviation, conduct aircraft maintenance and have aircraft engineers.
• Geraldton Airport has daily Regular Public Transport services, Geraldton – Perth – Geraldton, provided by both QantasLink and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines using Dash 8-400 and Fokker 50 aircraft respectively.
• The closest airport to Geraldton Airport (GET) is Mullewa Airport (MXU), which is located 54 miles (87 kilometers) ENE of GET.
• Geraldton Airport handled 104,051 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Geraldton Airport (GET) is L.F. Wade International Airport (BDA), which is nearly antipodal to Geraldton Airport (meaning Geraldton Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from L.F. Wade International Airport), and is located 12,188 miles (19,614 kilometers) away in Ferry Reach (near Hamilton), Bermuda.