Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Nanchong, Sichuan, China:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAL to NAO:
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- About this route
- WAL Airport Information
- NAO Airport Information
- Facts about WAL
- Facts about NAO
- Map of Nearest Airports to WAL
- List of Nearest Airports to WAL
- Map of Furthest Airports from WAL
- List of Furthest Airports from WAL
- Map of Nearest Airports to NAO
- List of Nearest Airports to NAO
- Map of Furthest Airports from NAO
- List of Furthest Airports from NAO
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Nanchong Gaoping Airport (NAO), Nanchong, Sichuan, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,687 miles (or 12,370 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 Nanchong Gaoping 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 Nanchong Gaoping Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | WAL / KWAL |
Airport Name: | Wallops Flight Facility Airport |
Location: | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°56'24"N by 75°27'59"W |
Elevation: | 0 feet (0 meters) |
View all routes: | Routes from WAL |
More Information: | WAL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NAO / ZUNC |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Nanchong, Sichuan, China |
GPS Coordinates: | 30°47'38"N by 106°9'34"E |
Airport Type: | Public |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from NAO |
More Information: | NAO Maps & Info |
Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):
- 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 1945, NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, established a rocket launch site on Wallops Island under the direction of the Langley Research Center.
- 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.
- 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.
- In 1998, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, later joined by Maryland, built the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops on land leased from NASA.
- In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.
- 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.
- 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.
Facts about Nanchong Gaoping Airport (NAO):
- The closest airport to Nanchong Gaoping Airport (NAO) is Dazhou Heshi Airport (DAX), which is located 79 miles (127 kilometers) ENE of NAO.
- In addition to being known as "Nanchong Gaoping Airport", other names for NAO include "南充高坪机场" and "Nanchong Gaoping Jīchǎng".
- The furthest airport from Nanchong Gaoping Airport (NAO) is La Florida Airport (LSC), which is nearly antipodal to Nanchong Gaoping Airport (meaning Nanchong Gaoping Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from La Florida Airport), and is located 12,268 miles (19,744 kilometers) away in La Serena, Chile.
- Nanchong Gaoping Airport (NAO) currently has only 1 runway.