Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Saarbrücken, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Saarbrücken Airport (SCN), Saarbrücken, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,737 miles (or 7,623 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 Saarbrücken 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 Saarbrücken 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):

• On 2 January 1942, the U.S.
• 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.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• In 1986, the base and the 28 BMW made extensive preparations to phase out the aging B-52 fleet and become the second home for the advanced B-1B Lancer.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.

Facts about Saarbrücken Airport (SCN):

• Regional bus R10 provides scheduled connections to Saarbrücken city center including Saarbrücken main station.
• In June 2011, 46,189 passengers used Saarbrücken Airport and it handled 452,314 passengers in the same entire year.
• The closest airport to Saarbrücken Airport (SCN) is Zweibrücken Airport (ZQW), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) E of SCN.
• It wasn't until 1964 and several years of reconstruction work that the airport in Ensheim could finally open.
• In addition to being known as "Saarbrücken Airport", another name for SCN is "Flughafen Saarbrücken".
• The furthest airport from Saarbrücken Airport (SCN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Saarbrücken Airport (meaning Saarbrücken Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,027 miles (19,355 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The nearest other minor international airport is Zweibrücken Airport approx.
• Saarbrücken Airport (SCN) has 2 runways.