Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Gran Canaria Airport (LPA), Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,492 miles (or 5,620 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 Gran Canaria 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 Gran Canaria 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):

• 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.
• Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
• The Wallops Visitor Center has a variety of hands-on exhibits and hosts weekly educational activities and programs to enable children to explore and learn about the technologies designed and used by NASA researchers and scientists.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.

Facts about Gran Canaria Airport (LPA):

• There is an airbase of the Spanish Air Force to the east of the runways.
• The airport opened on 7 April 1930, after King Alfonso XIII signed a royal order announcing that the military air force installations on the Bay of Gando would become a civilian airfield.
• Because of Gran Canaria Airport's relatively low elevation of 78 feet, planes can take off or land at Gran Canaria 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.
• There's currently another terminal under construction on the west of the airport.
• The closest airport to Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) is Tenerife North Airport (TFN), which is located 69 miles (112 kilometers) WNW of LPA.
• The furthest airport from Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Gran Canaria Airport (meaning Gran Canaria Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,221 miles (19,667 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• On 18 February 1988, Binter Canarias announced that the airline's main base was to be established at Gran Canaria.
• Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Gran Canaria Airport", another name for LPA is "Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria".
• Gran Canaria Airport handled 9,770,253 passengers last year.