Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Sochi, Krasnodar, Russia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Sochi International Airport, Russia (AER), Sochi, Krasnodar, Russia would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,514 miles (or 8,874 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Sochi International Airport, Russia, 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Sochi International Airport, Russia. 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• The Wallops Visitor Center has a variety of hands-on exhibits and hosts weekly educational activities and programs to enable children to explore and learn about the technologies designed and used by NASA researchers and scientists.
• 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.
• 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.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.
• On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
• 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 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.
• Since 2001, engineers at NASA Wallops Flight Facility have been developing new range technologies, systems and approaches to improve the cost and responsiveness of launch and flight test activities, within the constraints of available funding and program schedules.

Facts about Sochi International Airport, Russia (AER):

• On 20 November 2006, the airport was auctioned to Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element group for 5.5 billion roubles.
• Sochi International Airport has two artificial runways.
• The furthest airport from Sochi International Airport, Russia (AER) is Totegegie Airport (GMR), which is located 10,999 miles (17,701 kilometers) away in Mangareva, Gambier Islands, French Polynesia.
• The closest airport to Sochi International Airport, Russia (AER) is Sukhumi Babushara Airport (SUI), which is located 72 miles (116 kilometers) SE of AER.
• Because of Sochi International Airport, Russia's relatively low elevation of 89 feet, planes can take off or land at Sochi International Airport, Russia 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 Federal Financial Markets Service of Russia at the meeting on 29 August 2006, registered the issue and reported on the results of the issue ordinary shares of OJSC "International airport of Sochi on the total amount of 1,142,035,400 roubles.
• Passenger traffic went from 902,000 embarkations in 1965 to more than 2.3 million in 1990.
• Sochi International Airport, Russia (AER) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Sochi International Airport, Russia", another name for AER is "Международный Аэропорт Сочи".
• The original airfield was constructed to protect Russia's Black Sea coast during World War II.
• The airport received extensive renovations in anticipation of the 2014 Winter Olympics.