Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Pelotas International Airport (PET), Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,139 miles (or 9,879 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 Pelotas 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 Pelotas 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):

• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• 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 addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• To provide air defense of the base, the United States Army established the Ellsworth AFB Defense Area in 1957 and constructed Nike-Ajax Surface-to-air missile sites for air defense.

Facts about Pelotas International Airport (PET):

• In addition to being known as "Pelotas International Airport", another name for PET is "Aeroporto Internacional de Pelotas".
• Pelotas International Airport (PET) has 2 runways.
• In 1997 the whole airport complex was extensively renovated and a new terminal was opened in 1998.
• Pelotas International Airport is the airport serving Pelotas, Brazil.
• Because of Pelotas International Airport's relatively low elevation of 59 feet, planes can take off or land at Pelotas International 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 airport is located 8 km from downtown Pelotas.
• The closest airport to Pelotas International Airport (PET) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) SSE of PET.
• Pelotas is commonly used by the Brazilian Air Force as the last stop in Brazil on their flights to the Brazilian Antarctic Base.
• Pelotas International Airport handled 9,965 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Pelotas International Airport (PET) is Fukue Airport (FUJ), which is nearly antipodal to Pelotas International Airport (meaning Pelotas International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Fukue Airport), and is located 12,342 miles (19,863 kilometers) away in Gotō, Nagasaki, Japan.