Nonstop flight route between General Santos City, Philippines and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between General Santos International Airport (GES), General Santos City, Philippines and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,858 miles (or 12,646 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 General Santos International 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 General Santos International 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 General Santos International Airport (GES):

• Philippine Airlines A330-300 Aircraft
• In addition to being known as "General Santos International Airport", another name for GES is "Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Heneral SantosTugpahanang Pangkalibutanon sa Heneral SantosPangkalibutan nga Hulugpaan sang Heneral Santos".
• Because of General Santos International Airport's relatively low elevation of 505 feet, planes can take off or land at General Santos International 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.
• General Santos International Airport is an alternate international airport located in General Santos City, Philippines serving the greater area of SOCCSKSARGEN.
• Bigger aircraft such as Boeing 747-400, Airbus 340 and Airbus 330 come to the airport due to tuna cargo and increase of passengers, leaving the airport as the only domestic destination of the Philippine Airlines besides PAL Express.
• General Santos International Airport handled 611,274 passengers last year.
• General Santos International Airport (GES) currently has only 1 runway.
• Upon the opening of the new airport in 1996, it has since gotten hold of the record as the biggest airport facility in the island of Mindanao, which has then become a very promising addition to the potential of the city of General Santos in its bid to become a "Boom Town"—which means rapidly developing urban center—as it was indeed dubbed as is during the time.
• Philippine Airlines Boeing 747-400 Jumbo Jet 2
• General Santos International Airport is approximately 14 kilometers away from the central business district of General Santos City.
• The furthest airport from General Santos International Airport (GES) is Itaituba Airport (ITB), which is nearly antipodal to General Santos International Airport (meaning General Santos International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Itaituba Airport), and is located 12,290 miles (19,779 kilometers) away in Itaituba, Pará, Brazil.
• The closest airport to General Santos International Airport (GES) is Allah Valley Airport (AAV), which is located 32 miles (51 kilometers) NW of GES.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• 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.
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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 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.