Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Teesside, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME), Teesside, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,223 miles (or 6,796 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 Durham Tees Valley 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 Durham Tees Valley 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 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• The 44th Missile Wing, however, had ably accomplished its deterrence mission.
• 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.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• On 2 January 1942, the U.S.

Facts about Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME):

• The former RAF Station and airfield was purchased by the former Cleveland County Council, which saw the potential of the airfield as a commercial one, and developed it into a civil airport.
• Durham Tees Valley Airport is one of the United Kingdom's smaller airports, but offers links to several domestic and European destinations.
• On 3 September 2012, a volunteer support group for the airport, named FoDTVA was launched.
• Shortly afterwards, a new access road, terminal front and terminal interior were completed, but the remainder of a planned £56 million expansion and development programme which would have enabled the airport to handle up to 3 million passengers annually never materialised due to the above mentioned decrease in passenger numbers.
• The closest airport to Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) is Newcastle Airport (NCL), which is located 38 miles (61 kilometers) NNW of MME.
• The furthest airport from Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,741 miles (18,895 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Because of Durham Tees Valley Airport's relatively low elevation of 120 feet, planes can take off or land at Durham Tees Valley 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.
• Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) currently has only 1 runway.
• Dinsdale railway station in the nearby village of Middleton St George is the closest station with regular passenger services.
• Durham Tees Valley Airport handled 161,092 passengers last year.
• Arriva North East presently operates services 12 and 20.
• Passenger numbers peaked in 2006 when the airport was used by 917,963 passengers, but declined to 166,251 in 2012, the lowest level seen at the airport since 1972.