Nonstop flight route between Bordeaux / Mérignac, France and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD), Bordeaux / Mérignac, France and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,766 miles (or 6,061 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 Bordeaux-Mérignac 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 Bordeaux-Mérignac 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 Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD):

• In addition to being known as "Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport", another name for BOD is "Aéroport de Bordeaux-Mérignac".
• Because of Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport's relatively low elevation of 162 feet, planes can take off or land at Bordeaux-Mérignac 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.
• Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (meaning Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,215 miles (19,658 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (BOD) is La Teste-de-Buch Airport (XAC), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) SW of BOD.
• In 1951 Mérignac was turned over to NATO for use by the United States Air Force.
• The airport is accessible by car via the A630 autoroute.
• After the war Air France resumed commercial operations out of Mérignac and the re-established French Air Force returned to use the facility.
• Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport handled 457,435 passengers last year.

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
• 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 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 Wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• Since 2001, engineers at NASA Wallops Flight Facility have been developing new range technologies, systems and approaches to improve the cost and responsiveness of launch and flight test activities, within the constraints of available funding and program schedules.
• On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.
• The schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site.