Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Zweibrücken, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Zweibrücken Airport (ZQW), Zweibrücken, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,746 miles (or 7,638 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 Zweibrücken 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 Zweibrücken 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):

• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• 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.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• 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 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 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".

Facts about Zweibrücken Airport (ZQW):

• The furthest airport from Zweibrücken Airport (ZQW) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Zweibrücken Airport (meaning Zweibrücken Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,021 miles (19,346 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Zweibrücken Airport, or Flughafen Zweibrücken in German, is an airport in Zweibrücken, Germany.
• In 2010 264,247 passengers used the airport, while 242,880 passengers used it in 2012.
• In addition to being known as "Zweibrücken Airport", another name for ZQW is "Flughafen Zweibrücken".
• Zweibrücken Airport handled 220,740 passengers last year.
• Zweibrücken Airport can be reached via motorway A8 ) which leads to Saarbrücken and Luxembourg and from France directly via federal highway L700.
• Zweibrücken Airport (ZQW) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Zweibrücken Airport (ZQW) is Saarbrücken Airport (SCN), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) W of ZQW.