Nonstop flight route between New Plymouth, New Zealand and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from NPL to WAL:
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- About this route
- NPL Airport Information
- WAL Airport Information
- Facts about NPL
- Facts about WAL
- Map of Nearest Airports to NPL
- List of Nearest Airports to NPL
- Map of Furthest Airports from NPL
- List of Furthest Airports from NPL
- Map of Nearest Airports to WAL
- List of Nearest Airports to WAL
- Map of Furthest Airports from WAL
- List of Furthest Airports from WAL
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between New Plymouth Airport (NPL), New Plymouth, New Zealand and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,767 miles (or 14,109 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 New Plymouth Airport and Wallops Flight Facility 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 New Plymouth Airport and Wallops Flight Facility Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NPL / NZNP |
Airport Name: | New Plymouth Airport |
Location: | New Plymouth, New Zealand |
GPS Coordinates: | 39°0'30"S by 174°10'45"E |
Operator/Owner: | New Plymouth District Council Government of New Zealand |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 97 feet (30 meters) |
# of Runways: | 3 |
View all routes: | Routes from NPL |
More Information: | NPL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | WAL / KWAL |
Airport Name: | Wallops Flight Facility Airport |
Location: | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°56'24"N by 75°27'59"W |
Elevation: | 0 feet (0 meters) |
View all routes: | Routes from WAL |
More Information: | WAL Maps & Info |
Facts about New Plymouth Airport (NPL):
- The original terminal was renovated during the 1990s.
- Because of New Plymouth Airport's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at New Plymouth 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 New Plymouth Airport (NPL) is Wanganui Airport (WAG), which is located 80 miles (129 kilometers) SE of NPL.
- New Plymouth Airport (NPL) has 3 runways.
- New Plymouth Airport handled 332,178 passengers last year.
- The furthest airport from New Plymouth Airport (NPL) is Badajoz Airport (BJZ), which is nearly antipodal to New Plymouth Airport (meaning New Plymouth Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Badajoz Airport), and is located 12,382 miles (19,928 kilometers) away in Badajoz, Spain.
- New Plymouth Aero Club and its Air New Plymouth charter service are based at the airport, which carries out charter work and air ambulance services as well as providing a well recognised flight training facility.
- New Plymouth District Council has confirmed that they are designing a new terminal extension for construction in 2015.
Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):
- The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.
- In 1945, NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, established a rocket launch site on Wallops Island under the direction of the Langley Research Center.
- The furthest airport from Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,785 miles (18,965 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- Because of Wallops Flight Facility Airport's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Wallops Flight Facility 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
- Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground.
- LCT2 is an effort to produce a relatively low-cost transceiver to allow launch vehicles to communicate through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System after they have gone over the horizon from the launch site.
- In 1998, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, later joined by Maryland, built the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops on land leased from NASA.