Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and São Miguel do Oeste, Santa Catarina, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Hélio Wasum Airport (SQX), São Miguel do Oeste, Santa Catarina, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,816 miles (or 9,359 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 Hélio Wasum 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 Hélio Wasum 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The 44th Missile Wing, however, had ably accomplished its deterrence mission.
• In March 1944, heavy bomber operational training ended and the 225th Army Air Force Base Unit began training of replacement personnel for deployed heavy bombardment units in the overseas combat theaters.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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.

Facts about Hélio Wasum Airport (SQX):

• The closest airport to Hélio Wasum Airport (SQX) is Paulo Abdala Airport (FBE), which is located 57 miles (91 kilometers) NNE of SQX.
• In addition to being known as "Hélio Wasum Airport", another name for SQX is "Aeroporto Hélio Wasum".
• Hélio Wasum Airport (SQX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Hélio Wasum Airport (SQX) is Aguni Airport (AGJ), which is nearly antipodal to Hélio Wasum Airport (meaning Hélio Wasum Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Aguni Airport), and is located 12,389 miles (19,938 kilometers) away in Aguni, Japan.