Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Bakersfield, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAL to BFL:
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- About this route
- WAL Airport Information
- BFL Airport Information
- Facts about WAL
- Facts about BFL
- Map of Nearest Airports to WAL
- List of Nearest Airports to WAL
- Map of Furthest Airports from WAL
- List of Furthest Airports from WAL
- Map of Nearest Airports to BFL
- List of Nearest Airports to BFL
- Map of Furthest Airports from BFL
- List of Furthest Airports from BFL
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Meadows Field (BFL), Bakersfield, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,399 miles (or 3,862 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 relatively short distance between Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Meadows Field, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | WAL / KWAL |
| Airport Name: | Wallops Flight Facility Airport |
| Location: | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 37°56'24"N by 75°27'59"W |
| Elevation: | 0 feet (0 meters) |
| View all routes: | Routes from WAL |
| More Information: | WAL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | BFL / KBFL |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Bakersfield, California, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 35°26'2"N by 119°3'28"W |
| Area Served: | Greater Bakersfield metropolitan area |
| Operator/Owner: | Kern County |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 510 feet (155 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 2 |
| View all routes: | Routes from BFL |
| More Information: | BFL Maps & Info |
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.
- The Wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems.
- On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Wallops Research Range includes ground-based and mobile systems, and a range control center.
Facts about Meadows Field (BFL):
- The furthest airport from Meadows Field (BFL) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,406 miles (18,356 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
- The Domestic Terminal provides fee parking for both short term, and long term parking.
- Meadows Field (BFL) has 2 runways.
- Because of Meadows Field's relatively low elevation of 510 feet, planes can take off or land at Meadows Field 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 Meadows Field (BFL) is Shafter Airport (MIT), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) WNW of BFL.
- Bakersfield then had two airfields.
- The airport saw increased air service during the 1950s and 1960s.
- In addition to being known as "Meadows Field", another name for BFL is "Kern County Airport No. 1".
- Airport diagrams for 1955 and 1965
- With the end of the war, the base was declared excess to requirements and returned to civil control.
