Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Mbarara, Uganda:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Mbarara Airport (MBQ), Mbarara, Uganda would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,301 miles (or 13,360 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 Mbarara 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 Mbarara 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 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".

Facts about Mbarara Airport (MBQ):

• Because of Mbarara Airport's high elevation of 4,600 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MBQ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MBQ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Mbarara Airport (MBQ) is Kasese Airport (KSE), which is located 62 miles (100 kilometers) NNW of MBQ.
• Mbarara Airport (MBQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Mbarara Airport (MBQ) is Cassidy International Airport (CXI), which is located 11,879 miles (19,117 kilometers) away in Christmas Island, Kiribati.