Nonstop flight route between Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shark Bay Airport (MJK), Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 11,451 miles (or 18,429 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 Shark Bay 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 Shark Bay 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 Shark Bay Airport (MJK):

• Because of Shark Bay Airport's relatively low elevation of 111 feet, planes can take off or land at Shark Bay 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 Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is Carnarvon Airport (CVQ), which is located 70 miles (113 kilometers) N of MJK.
• The furthest airport from Shark Bay Airport (MJK) is JAGS McCartney International Airport (GDT), which is nearly antipodal to Shark Bay Airport (meaning Shark Bay Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from JAGS McCartney International Airport), and is located 12,008 miles (19,325 kilometers) away in Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Shark Bay Airport (MJK) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• 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.
• 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 closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• 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 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.
• Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground.
• 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.
• In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.