Nonstop flight route between Garden City, Kansas, United States and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Garden City Regional Airport (GCK), Garden City, Kansas, United States and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,372 miles (or 2,208 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 relatively short distance between Garden City Regional Airport and Wallops Flight Facility Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Garden City Regional Airport (GCK):

• Garden City Regional Airport covers an area of 1,848 acres at an elevation of 2,891 feet above mean sea level.
• Garden City Regional Airport (GCK) has 2 runways.
• During World War II the United States Army Air Forces used Garden City Airport as a training airfield by the Army Air Forces Flying Training Command, Gulf Coast Training Center.
• The furthest airport from Garden City Regional Airport (GCK) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,860 miles (17,477 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The closest airport to Garden City Regional Airport (GCK) is Dodge City Regional Airport (DDC), which is located 43 miles (69 kilometers) ESE of GCK.

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• 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.
• The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
• The WFF mobile range assets have been used to support rocket launches from locations in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, South America, Africa, Europe, Australia, and at sea.
• 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 closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• The schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site.
• 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.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• 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.
• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.