Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Valdivia, Chile:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Pichoy Airport (ZAL), Valdivia, Chile would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,083 miles (or 9,790 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 Pichoy 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 Pichoy 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):

• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• Military organizations periodically upgrade manpower and machines from time to time to meet new national security requirements and Ellsworth Air Force Base's organizations were no exception.
• 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 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 October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• 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".

Facts about Pichoy Airport (ZAL):

• The furthest airport from Pichoy Airport (ZAL) is Wuhai Airport (WUA), which is nearly antipodal to Pichoy Airport (meaning Pichoy Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Wuhai Airport), and is located 12,425 miles (19,997 kilometers) away in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, China.
• In addition to being known as "Pichoy Airport", another name for ZAL is "Aeródromo Pichoy".
• Pichoy Airport (ZAL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Pichoy Airport (ZAL) is Maquehue Airport (ZCO), which is located 66 miles (106 kilometers) NNE of ZAL.
• Because of Pichoy Airport's relatively low elevation of 59 feet, planes can take off or land at Pichoy 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.