Nonstop flight route between Falalop Island, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Falalop Airfield (ULI), Falalop Island, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,020 miles (or 11,297 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 Falalop Airfield and Ellsworth Air Force Base, 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 Falalop Airfield and Ellsworth Air Force Base. 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 Falalop Airfield (ULI):

• The closest airport to Falalop Airfield (ULI) is Yap International Airport (YAP), which is located 122 miles (196 kilometers) WSW of ULI.
• Marine Air Group 45 deployed to Falalop in late September to establish base operations.
• The furthest airport from Falalop Airfield (ULI) is Petrolina–Senador Nilo Coelho Airport (PNZ), which is nearly antipodal to Falalop Airfield (meaning Falalop Airfield is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Petrolina–Senador Nilo Coelho Airport), and is located 12,385 miles (19,931 kilometers) away in Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil.
• The airfield remains in use today.
• On 7 December 1944 a detachment of two PBYs of VPB-23 was deployed to Falalop for air-sea rescue missions.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• On 1 June 1971, SAC deactivated the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division and by October of that year, an upgraded LGM-30F Minuteman II also replaced the Minuteman I missiles.
• 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.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.