Nonstop flight route between Beluga, Alaska, United States and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Beluga Airport (BVU), Beluga, Alaska, United States and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,503 miles (or 5,638 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 Beluga 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 Beluga 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 Beluga Airport (BVU):

• Beluga Airport (BVU) has 2 runways.
• Because of Beluga Airport's relatively low elevation of 87 feet, planes can take off or land at Beluga 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.
• Beluga Airport resides at elevation of 87 feet above mean sea level.
• The furthest airport from Beluga Airport (BVU) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,552 miles (16,982 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• Beluga Airport is a private use airport located in Beluga, in the Kenai Peninsula Borough of the U.S.
• The closest airport to Beluga Airport (BVU) is Tyonek Airport (TYE), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) SSW of BVU.
• As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 2,541 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 2,410 enplanements in 2009, and 2,144 in 2010.
• In addition to being known as "Beluga Airport", another name for BVU is "BLG".

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Wallops Flight Facility, located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for N.A.S.A.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.
• There have been over 16,000 launches from the rocket testing range at Wallops since its founding in 1945 in the quest for information on the flight characteristics of airplanes, launch vehicles, and spacecraft, and to increase the knowledge of the Earth's upper atmosphere and the environment of outer space.
• 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.