Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Songpan County, Sichuan, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH), Songpan County, Sichuan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,856 miles (or 11,034 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 Jiuzhai Huanglong 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 Jiuzhai Huanglong 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 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• 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.
• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• The Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota just north of Box Elder, South Dakota.

Facts about Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH):

• The furthest airport from Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH) is Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), which is nearly antipodal to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (meaning Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Viña del Mar Airport), and is located 12,156 miles (19,563 kilometers) away in Viña del Mar, Chile.
• Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport's high elevation of 11,312 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JZH. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JZH a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport, also known as Jiuzhaigou Airport and Jiuhuang Airport, is an airport in Songpan County, Sichuan province, China.
• Due to the elevation of 3,448 m, some passengers may experience symptoms of altitude sickness.
• The closest airport to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (JZH) is Mianyang Nanjiao Airport (MIG), which is located 116 miles (187 kilometers) SSE of JZH.
• In addition to being known as "Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport", other names for JZH include "九寨黄龙机场" and "Jiǔzhài Huánglóng Jīchǎng".