Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and La Paz, Bolivia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and El Alto International Airport (LPB), La Paz, Bolivia would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,733 miles (or 7,618 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 El Alto 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 El Alto 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 October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• 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.
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.
• 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.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• 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.

Facts about El Alto International Airport (LPB):

• In addition to being known as "El Alto International Airport", another name for LPB is "Aeropuerto Internacional El Alto".
• The Bolivian air transport started in 1916, when the Military school of Aviation was formed in La Paz.
• Because of El Alto International Airport's high elevation of 13,325 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at LPB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make LPB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from El Alto International Airport (LPB) is Sanya Phoenix International Airport (SYX), which is nearly antipodal to El Alto International Airport (meaning El Alto International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Sanya Phoenix International Airport), and is located 12,236 miles (19,692 kilometers) away in Sanya, Hainan, China.
• El Alto International Airport (LPB) has 2 runways.
• El Alto International Airport handled 833,212 passengers last year.
• In 2006, SABSA invested nearly 2.3 million dollars in the reconstruciton of the main terminal.
• The closest airport to El Alto International Airport (LPB) is Apolo Airport (APB), which is located 118 miles (189 kilometers) N of LPB.