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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Alert Airport (YLT), Alert, Nunavut, Canada and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,793 miles (or 4,495 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 Alert Airport 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 Alert Airport 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 Alert Airport (YLT):

• The airport's fire and rescue operations are supported by a 2012 KME/Fort Garry Fire Truck ARFF.
• Alert Airport (YLT) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Alert Airport (YLT) is Eureka Aerodrome (YEU), which is located 299 miles (481 kilometers) WSW of YLT.
• Because of Alert Airport's relatively low elevation of 100 feet, planes can take off or land at Alert 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.
• There have been two crashes involving fatalities at the airfield since it was established.
• A weather station was established on the site in 1950, and in 1957 construction began on the military facilities which are still in use to this day.
• The furthest airport from Alert Airport (YLT) is Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Airport (TNM), which is located 9,999 miles (16,092 kilometers) away in Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB is 10 miles east of Rapid City, S.D.
• The Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• 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.