Nonstop flight route between Skwentna, Alaska, United States and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Skwentna Airport (SKW), Skwentna, Alaska, United States and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,499 miles (or 5,632 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 Skwentna 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 Skwentna 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 Skwentna Airport (SKW):

• The furthest airport from Skwentna Airport (SKW) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,498 miles (16,896 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• Skwentna Airport (SKW) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Skwentna Airport's relatively low elevation of 148 feet, planes can take off or land at Skwentna 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.
• In addition to being known as "Skwentna Airport", another name for SKW is "Skwentna".
• The closest airport to Skwentna Airport (SKW) is Willow Airport (WOW), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) ESE of SKW.

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (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.
• The schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site.
• 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 Wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground.
• On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
• 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.