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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base (EXI), Excursion Inlet, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,977 miles (or 4,790 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 Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base, 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 Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base. 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 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.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.
• 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 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 Wallops Research Range includes ground-based and mobile systems, and a range control 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.
• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
• 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.

Facts about Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base (EXI):

• The furthest airport from Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base (EXI) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,536 miles (16,956 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base (EXI) is Gustavus Airport (GST), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) W of EXI.
• Because of Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base 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.
• Excursion Inlet Seaplane Base (EXI) currently has only 1 runway.
• This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation airport.