Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Windhoek, Namibia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH), Windhoek, Namibia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,782 miles (or 14,133 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 Hosea Kutako International 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 Hosea Kutako International 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):

• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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 44th Missile Wing, however, had ably accomplished its deterrence mission.
• 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.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH):

• The furthest airport from Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) is PMRF Barking Sands (BKH), which is nearly antipodal to Hosea Kutako International Airport (meaning Hosea Kutako International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from PMRF Barking Sands), and is located 12,258 miles (19,727 kilometers) away in Kekaha, Hawaii, United States.
• Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) has 2 runways.
• Because of Hosea Kutako International Airport's high elevation of 5,640 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at WDH. Combined with a high temperature, this could make WDH a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The closest airport to Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) is Eros Airport (ERS), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) WSW of WDH.
• Few, if any, domestic flights pass through Hosea Kutako Airport as those are predominantly handled at the smaller Windhoek Eros Airport.
• Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport underwent a modernising makeover in 2009.
• Hosea Kutako International Airport handled 681,317 passengers last year.