Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Miyazaki Airport (KMI), Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,162 miles (or 9,917 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 Miyazaki 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 Miyazaki 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 deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• 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 Miyazaki Airport (KMI):

• The closest airport to Miyazaki Airport (KMI) is Kagoshima Airport (KOJ), which is located 43 miles (70 kilometers) W of KMI.
• Link Airs, a Fukuoka-based regional airline startup, plans to begin service to the airport in 2014.
• Miyazaki Airport (KMI) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Miyazaki Airport", another name for KMI is "宮崎空港".
• Because of Miyazaki Airport's relatively low elevation of 19 feet, planes can take off or land at Miyazaki 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 Miyazaki Airport (KMI) is Salgado Filho International Airport (POA), which is nearly antipodal to Miyazaki Airport (meaning Miyazaki Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Salgado Filho International Airport), and is located 12,234 miles (19,689 kilometers) away in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.