Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Kahului, Hawaii, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Kahului Airport (OGG), Kahului, Hawaii, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,425 miles (or 5,512 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 Kahului 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 Kahului 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".
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.
• The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command's Twelfth Air Force.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.

Facts about Kahului Airport (OGG):

• The closest airport to Kahului Airport (OGG) is Kapalua Airport (JHM), which is located only 16 miles (26 kilometers) WNW of OGG.
• Kahului Airport (OGG) has 2 runways.
• In 2010, the airport handled 5,346,694 passengers and 118,896 aircraft movements.
• In early 2005, Governor Linda Lingle released $365 million for construction of an extended ticketing lobby, new baggage claim carousels, a new Alien Species building, a new cargo building, construction of a new apron, construction of an additional 10 jetways to replace the current jetways, and a new six-lane airport access road that would run from the airport, intersecting Haleakala Highway and Hana Highway, and run parallel to Dairy Road where it would merge with a new grade-separated interchange between Puunene Avenue, Dairy Road, and Kuihelani Highway.
• On October 28, 1989, Aloha Island Air Flight 1712, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, collided with mountainous terrain near Halawa Valley, Molokai, while en route on a scheduled passenger flight from Kahului Airport to Molokai Airport in Hoolehua.
• The furthest airport from Kahului Airport (OGG) is Maun Airport (MUB), which is nearly antipodal to Kahului Airport (meaning Kahului Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Maun Airport), and is located 12,372 miles (19,911 kilometers) away in Maun, Botswana.
• Kahului Airport handled 5,346,694 passengers last year.
• Because of Kahului Airport's relatively low elevation of 54 feet, planes can take off or land at Kahului 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.
• On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737-200 interisland flight from Hilo Airport to Honolulu International Airport carrying 89 passengers and six crew members experienced rapid decompression when an 18 foot section of the fuselage roof and sides were torn from the aircraft.
• Most of the gates were spaced to handle narrow-body aircraft like the Boeing 717 and Boeing 737 used on inter-island flights.