Nonstop flight route between Southend, Essex (near London) United Kingdom and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between London Southend Airport (SEN), Southend, Essex (near London) United Kingdom and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,676 miles (or 5,916 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 London Southend 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 London Southend 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 London Southend Airport (SEN):

• Companies located at and around the airport employ over 1,000 skilled workers, providing services such as engineering and maintenance work on airliners, including re-spraying, refurbishment, upgrades to avionics, manufacture of aircraft seats and the installation of new or hush-kitted engines.
• The furthest airport from London Southend Airport (SEN) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,885 miles (19,126 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of London Southend Airport's relatively low elevation of 55 feet, planes can take off or land at London Southend 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 airport is served by buses operated by Arriva Southend from the airport entrance to Southend, Rochford, Ashingdon, Hawkwell, Hockley, Eastwood and Rayleigh.
• London Southend Airport (SEN) currently has only 1 runway.
• Annual passenger traffic first peaked in 1967, at 692,000.
• The closest airport to London Southend Airport (SEN) is Rochester Airport (RCS), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) SSW of SEN.
• London Southend Airport handled 969,912 passengers last year.

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.
• The schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.