Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Pisa, Italy:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Pisa International Airport (PSA), Pisa, Italy would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,118 miles (or 8,237 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 Pisa 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 Pisa 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 installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• 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.
• 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 mission of the 28th Bomb Wing is to deliver decisive combat power for global response.
• 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.
• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.

Facts about Pisa International Airport (PSA):

• The airport had its own railway station with a service to and from Pisa Central railway station but this was closed on 15 December 2013 to allow construction work to begin on a new fully automatic connection to be known as the Pisa Mover to take passengers to Pisa Central – at the moment a direct bus makes the connection.
• Pisa International Airport (PSA) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Pisa International Airport", another name for PSA is "Aeroporto Internazionale di Pisa".
• On 23 November 2009, Italian Air Force Lockheed KC-130J Hercules MM62176 of the based 46 Aerobrigata crashed just after take-off.
• Pisa International Airport handled 4,494,915 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Pisa International Airport (PSA) is Florence Airport, Peretola (FLR), which is located 41 miles (67 kilometers) ENE of PSA.
• Because of Pisa International Airport's relatively low elevation of 6 feet, planes can take off or land at Pisa 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 furthest airport from Pisa International Airport (PSA) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Pisa International Airport (meaning Pisa International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,095 miles (19,465 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.