Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Townsville, Queensland, Australia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Townsville Airport (TSV), Townsville, Queensland, Australia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,125 miles (or 13,075 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 Townsville 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 Townsville 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 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 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.

Facts about Townsville Airport (TSV):

• Townsville Airport handled 1,644,089 passengers last year.
• Townsville Airport (TSV) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Townsville Airport", other names for TSV include "Garbutt Airport" and "Townsville International Airport".
• The project included a new common user departures and arrivals lounge, new modern check-in facilities for Qantas and QantasLink, a new Qantas Club adjacent to the new departures lounge, new retail stores and airside retail space, a new mezzanine level with departure lounges, and three aerobridges for aircraft up to the size of Boeing 767 aircraft.
• Because of Townsville Airport's relatively low elevation of 18 feet, planes can take off or land at Townsville 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 closest airport to Townsville Airport (TSV) is Charters Towers Airport (CXT), which is located 63 miles (102 kilometers) SSW of TSV.
• The airport was expanded again in 1987 when a redevelopment of the international terminal opened to cater for domestic traffic.
• The furthest airport from Townsville Airport (TSV) is Agostinho Neto Airport (NTO), which is located 11,884 miles (19,125 kilometers) away in Ponta do Sol, Santo Antão, Cape Verde.
• The airport is located 2 nautical miles west of the Townsville CBD.
• In the mid-1990s domestic flights started to decrease, with some services being cut back by Qantas and Ansett.