Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Resolute, Nunavut, Canada:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Resolute Bay Airport (YRB), Resolute, Nunavut, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,127 miles (or 3,423 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 relatively short distance between Ellsworth Air Force Base and Resolute Bay Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• 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.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.

Facts about Resolute Bay Airport (YRB):

• The furthest airport from Resolute Bay Airport (YRB) is Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Airport (TNM), which is located 9,598 miles (15,446 kilometers) away in Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica.
• The site would be able to provide logistics for search-and-rescue operations according to a briefing from the Arctic Management Office at 1 Canadian Air Division.
• Historically, the airport was served by several airlines operating direct, no-change-of-plane scheduled passenger jet service to such Canadian cities as Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Yellowknife.
• Resolute Bay Airport (YRB) currently has only 1 runway.
• On August 20, 2011, First Air Flight 6560, a Boeing 737-200 charter flight transporting fifteen people from Yellowknife, crashed near the airport.
• Because of Resolute Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 222 feet, planes can take off or land at Resolute Bay 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 Resolute Bay Airport (YRB) is Arctic Bay Airport (YAB), which is located 224 miles (360 kilometers) ESE of YRB.