Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Kerry Airport (KIR), Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,040 miles (or 6,502 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 Kerry 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 Kerry 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):

• 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.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Kerry Airport (KIR):

• Because of Kerry Airport's relatively low elevation of 112 feet, planes can take off or land at Kerry 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.
• The furthest airport from Kerry Airport (KIR) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is nearly antipodal to Kerry Airport (meaning Kerry Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ryan's Creek Aerodrome), and is located 12,057 miles (19,403 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Kerry Airport handled 272,799 passengers last year.
• Encouraged by the apparent success of other regional airports in Ireland, the board of directors drew up a development plan to lengthen and widen the runway to 1,200m x 30m and to extend and upgrade the Terminal Buildings and to install an Instrument Landing System and appropriate lighting.
• An airport bus terminal opened in January 2006 which has hourly bus service to Cork, Limerick, Tralee and Killarney.
• In January 2011, it was announced that 20 of the airport's 65 staff would be made redundant due to a fall in passenger numbers following Ryanair's withdrawal from its PSO contract.
• Kerry Airport (KIR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Kerry Airport (KIR) is Bantry Aerodrome (BYT), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) S of KIR.
• In addition to being known as "Kerry Airport", another name for KIR is "Aerfort Chiarraí".