Nonstop flight route between Kivalina, Alaska, United States and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from KVL to RCA:
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- About this route
- KVL Airport Information
- RCA Airport Information
- Facts about KVL
- Facts about RCA
- Map of Nearest Airports to KVL
- List of Nearest Airports to KVL
- Map of Furthest Airports from KVL
- List of Furthest Airports from KVL
- Map of Nearest Airports to RCA
- List of Nearest Airports to RCA
- Map of Furthest Airports from RCA
- List of Furthest Airports from RCA
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Kivalina Airport (KVL), Kivalina, Alaska, United States and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,712 miles (or 4,365 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 Kivalina 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 Kivalina 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:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | KVL / PAVL |
Airport Name: | Kivalina Airport |
Location: | Kivalina, Alaska, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 67°44'9"N by 164°33'48"W |
Operator/Owner: | State of Alaska DOT&PF - Northern Region |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 13 feet (4 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from KVL |
More Information: | KVL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | RCA / KRCA |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Rapid City, South Dakota, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 44°8'47"N by 103°4'28"W |
View all routes: | Routes from RCA |
More Information: | RCA Maps & Info |
Facts about Kivalina Airport (KVL):
- Kivalina Airport (KVL) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Kivalina Airport (KVL) is Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Airport (TNM), which is located 10,364 miles (16,679 kilometers) away in Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica.
- Because of Kivalina Airport's relatively low elevation of 13 feet, planes can take off or land at Kivalina 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.
- The closest airport to Kivalina Airport (KVL) is Noatak Airport (WTK), which is located 43 miles (70 kilometers) ESE of KVL.
Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):
- In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
- Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
- 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 was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
- Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
- 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.
- When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
- On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat 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.
- An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.