Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Tartu, Estonia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Tartu Airport (TAY), Tartu, Estonia would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,796 miles (or 7,719 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 Tartu 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 Tartu 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 host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command's Twelfth Air Force.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 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.
• 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.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.

Facts about Tartu Airport (TAY):

• Estonian Air ended its flights to Tallinn on 21 December 2012.
• In addition to being known as "Tartu Airport", another name for TAY is "Tartu lennujaam".
• The closest airport to Tartu Airport (TAY) is Pskov Airport (PKV), which is located 72 miles (116 kilometers) ESE of TAY.
• Tartu Airport (TAY) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Tartu Airport's relatively low elevation of 219 feet, planes can take off or land at Tartu 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.
• In 2009 the runway was lengthened to 1,799 m.
• The furthest airport from Tartu Airport (TAY) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,031 miles (17,753 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.