Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Honolulu, Hawaii, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Honolulu International Airport (HNL), Honolulu, Hawaii, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,479 miles (or 5,599 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 Honolulu International 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 Honolulu International 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):

• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• Military organizations periodically upgrade manpower and machines from time to time to meet new national security requirements and Ellsworth Air Force Base's organizations were no exception.
• 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.
• 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 addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.

Facts about Honolulu International Airport (HNL):

• In 2012, the airport handled 19,291,412 passengers, 278,145 aircraft movements and processed 412,270 metric tonnes of cargo.
• The furthest airport from Honolulu International Airport (HNL) is Ghanzi Airport (GNZ), which is nearly antipodal to Honolulu International Airport (meaning Honolulu International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ghanzi Airport), and is located 12,399 miles (19,955 kilometers) away in Ghanzi, Botswana.
• Because of Honolulu International Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Honolulu International 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.
• Honolulu International Airport (HNL) has 6 runways.
• The closest airport to Honolulu International Airport (HNL) is Hickam Field (HIK), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) N of HNL.
• Future projects include construction of a Mauka Concourse branching off the Interisland Terminal, the first concourse expansion at HNL in 15 years.
• The original terminal building on the southeast side of runways 4 was replaced by the John Rodgers Terminal, which was dedicated on August 22, 1962 and opened on October 14, 1962.
• Honolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States, with traffic now exceeding 21 million passengers a year and rising.