Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Sitia, Crete, Greece:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Sitia Airport (JSH), Sitia, Crete, Greece would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,319 miles (or 8,559 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 Sitia 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 Sitia 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
• 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 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 Sitia Airport (JSH):

• Because of Sitia Airport's relatively low elevation of 376 feet, planes can take off or land at Sitia 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 Sitia Airport (JSH) is Rurutu Airport (RUR), which is located 11,540 miles (18,572 kilometers) away in Rurutu, French Polynesia.
• The closest airport to Sitia Airport (JSH) is Kasos Island Public Airport (KSJ), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) ENE of JSH.
• The airport was officially opened 2 days later, on June 9, 1984.
• On May 20, 1993, the airport's services moved to a newly built terminal building and control tower.
• Sitia Airport (JSH) currently has only 1 runway.
• Sitia Airport began operations on June 7, 1984, when the first aircraft landed on the facility.
• In addition to being known as "Sitia Airport", another name for JSH is "Δημοτικός Αερολιμένας Σητείας".