Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Sørkjosen, Norway:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ), Sørkjosen, Norway would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,077 miles (or 6,562 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 Sørkjosen 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 Sørkjosen 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.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• 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 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.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.

Facts about Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ):

• Sørkjosen Airport handled 16,993 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Sørkjosen Airport", another name for SOJ is "Sørkjosen lufthavn".
• Sørkjosen was launched as part of a national network of regional short take-off and landing airport which was proposed in the mid-1960s.
• The closest airport to Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ) is Tromsø Airport, Langnes (TOS), which is located 49 miles (80 kilometers) W of SOJ.
• A new fire station, serving both the airport and the municipality, was completed in 1992, costing 3.2 million Norwegian krone.
• Because of Sørkjosen Airport's relatively low elevation of 16 feet, planes can take off or land at Sørkjosen 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 Sørkjosen Airport (SOJ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,541 miles (16,965 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.