Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Palanga, Lithuania:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Palanga Airport (PLQ), Palanga, Lithuania would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,796 miles (or 7,718 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 Palanga 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 Palanga 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• 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.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• 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.

Facts about Palanga Airport (PLQ):

• Because of Palanga Airport's relatively low elevation of 33 feet, planes can take off or land at Palanga 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.
• Infrastructure improvements continued in 2007 with the construction of North terminal to expand the terminals' area by 2000 m2 as well as to comply with Schengen border crossing regimen.
• Since 1993, the number of passengers passing through the airport has been increasing annually.
• In addition to being known as "Palanga Airport", another name for PLQ is "Palangos oro uostas".
• The closest airport to Palanga Airport (PLQ) is Klaipėda Airport (KLJ), which is located only 19 miles (31 kilometers) SSE of PLQ.
• Palanga Airport started operations in 1937 at a site 7 kilometers East of the current terminal, near the Palanga-Darbenai road.
• Palanga Airport (PLQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Palanga Airport (PLQ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,296 miles (18,179 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.