Nonstop flight route between Castres, Languedoc, France and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Castres - Mazamet Airport (DCM), Castres, Languedoc, France and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,937 miles (or 6,336 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 Castres - Mazamet 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 Castres - Mazamet 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 Castres - Mazamet Airport (DCM):

• The closest airport to Castres - Mazamet Airport (DCM) is Carcassonne Airport (CCF), which is located 23 miles (38 kilometers) S of DCM.
• In addition to being known as "Castres - Mazamet Airport", another name for DCM is "Aéroport de Castres - Mazamet".
• Because of Castres - Mazamet Airport's relatively low elevation of 785 feet, planes can take off or land at Castres - Mazamet 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.
• Castres - Mazamet Airport (DCM) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Castres - Mazamet Airport (DCM) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Castres - Mazamet Airport (meaning Castres - Mazamet Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,372 miles (19,910 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.