Nonstop flight route between La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between La Palma Airport (SPC), La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,342 miles (or 5,378 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 La Palma 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 La Palma 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:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about La Palma Airport (SPC):

• La Palma Airport (SPC) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from La Palma Airport (SPC) is Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), which is nearly antipodal to La Palma Airport (meaning La Palma Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Lord Howe Island Airport), and is located 12,161 miles (19,570 kilometers) away in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia.
• The closest airport to La Palma Airport (SPC) is La Gomera Airport (GMZ), which is located 53 miles (85 kilometers) SE of SPC.
• Because of La Palma Airport's relatively low elevation of 108 feet, planes can take off or land at La Palma 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.

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• The Wallops Visitor Center has a variety of hands-on exhibits and hosts weekly educational activities and programs to enable children to explore and learn about the technologies designed and used by NASA researchers and scientists.
• 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.
• In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.