Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Manchester, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Manchester Airport (MAN), Manchester, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,523 miles (or 5,670 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 Manchester 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 Manchester 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 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 NASA Wallops Flight Facility has alliances with a number of organizations important to its mission and future growth.
• 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.
• In 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.
• On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
• The WFF Research Airport is located on the Main Base.
• 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.
• 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 first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.

Facts about Manchester Airport (MAN):

• The furthest airport from Manchester Airport (MAN) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,824 miles (19,029 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Manchester also offers more destinations than some of the biggest airports in the U.S.A., including New York-JFK, although it is still slightly behind the three biggest 'hubs' in the global aviation network – Atlanta, Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam – which each offer more than 250 destinations.
• Passenger numbers at Manchester peaked in 2006 when over 22.4 million passed through the airport.
• During World War II it was the Royal Air Force's base RAF Ringway, and was important in military aircraft production and training parachutists.
• The closest airport to Manchester Airport (MAN) is Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) W of MAN.
• Because of Manchester Airport's relatively low elevation of 257 feet, planes can take off or land at Manchester 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.
• Manchester Airport handled 20,751,581 passengers last year.
• Manchester Airport (MAN) has 2 runways.
• Terminal 1 is used by airlines with scheduled and charter operations, flying to European and other worldwide destinations.
• Passenger flow on Terminal 1's gating piers is due to be realigned, with plans to redesign the piers so departures and arrivals do not contraflow on the same level, allowing larger seating areas at the gates, express retail outlets, and a dedicated lounge and gating area for future Airbus A380 flights.
• Manchester Airport has three passenger terminals.