Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Belém, Pará, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL), Belém, Pará, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,216 miles (or 5,176 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 Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International 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 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 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.
• 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.
• The Wallops Flight Facility also supports science missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and occasionally for foreign governments and commercial organizations.
• 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 closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• 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.
• 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.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.
• The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.

Facts about Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL):

• With the outbreak of World War II air bases and airports located on the Brazilian coast became immensely important in the support of transportation of aircraft, personnel and equipment across the South Atlantic Ocean to Sierra Leone in West Africa.
• Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL) has 2 runways.
• Because of Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport's relatively low elevation of 56 feet, planes can take off or land at Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International 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 Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL) is Ayawasi Airport (AYW), which is nearly antipodal to Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (meaning Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ayawasi Airport), and is located 12,246 miles (19,708 kilometers) away in Ayawasi, Indonesia.
• The closest airport to Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport (BEL) is Macapá-Alberto Alcolumbre International Airport (MCP), which is located 205 miles (329 kilometers) WNW of BEL.
• Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport handled 3,283,527 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro International Airport", another name for BEL is "Aeroporto Internacional de Belém/Val de Cans–Júlio Cezar Ribeiro".
• Panair do Brasil, Pan American, and NAB – Navegação Aérea Brasileira began their activities at Val de Cans building their stations and providing services to passengers.