Nonstop flight route between Maitland, New South Wales, Australia and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Maitland Airport (MTL), Maitland, New South Wales, Australia and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 9,793 miles (or 15,760 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 Maitland 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 Maitland 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 Maitland Airport (MTL):

• During the 1980s, a local company called Club Air linked the airport with Sydney using two 14 seat Australian built GAF Nomad aircraft.
• The main runway used for arrivals and departures is 05/23, with a paved surface 1,244 by 15 m.
• Because of Maitland Airport's relatively low elevation of 85 feet, planes can take off or land at Maitland 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.
• Maitland Airport (MTL) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Maitland Airport (MTL) is Santa Maria Airport (SMA), which is nearly antipodal to Maitland Airport (meaning Maitland Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Santa Maria Airport), and is located 12,086 miles (19,451 kilometers) away in Santa Maria, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Maitland Airport (MTL) is Cessnock Airport (CES), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) SW of MTL.
• In addition to being known as "Maitland Airport", another name for MTL is "Russell Field".

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.
• 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.
• 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 WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
• 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.
• 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 Research Airport is located on the Main Base.