Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat, India:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Civil Enclave Bhuj (BHJ), Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat, India would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,639 miles (or 12,295 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 Civil Enclave Bhuj, 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 Civil Enclave Bhuj. 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site.
• 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 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.
• Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground.

Facts about Civil Enclave Bhuj (BHJ):

• In 2005, then Member of Parliament from Kutch, Pushpdan Gadhavi, as well as Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, made a request to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to rename the airport after revolutionary freedom fighter Shyamji Krishna Varma.
• In addition to being known as "Civil Enclave Bhuj", other names for BHJ include "Bhuj Rudra Mata Airport", "Bhuj Airport" and "Bhuj Rudra Mata Air Force Base".
• The furthest airport from Civil Enclave Bhuj (BHJ) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Civil Enclave Bhuj (meaning Civil Enclave Bhuj is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,163 miles (19,574 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• In the 1930s Tata Air Lines won a government contract to run a bi-weekly service from Karachi to Colombo via Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Hyderabad, Madras and Trichinopoly.
• The airstrip was destroyed in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, in air strikes in which Pakistani bombers dropped napalm bombs.
• Civil Enclave Bhuj (BHJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The air traffic control unit of Bhuj airport controls and guides air traffic at Mundra airport, a private airport owned by the Adani group, located about 43 miles away.
• Because of Civil Enclave Bhuj's relatively low elevation of 257 feet, planes can take off or land at Civil Enclave Bhuj 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 original ATC tower was destroyed in the earthquake and an ad hoc terminal was set up for rescue operations.
• The closest airport to Civil Enclave Bhuj (BHJ) is Kandla Airport (IXY), which is located 30 miles (48 kilometers) ESE of BHJ.
• The airport was damaged in the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and was renovated at a cost of 400 million.