Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Niuafo'ou, Tonga:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Mata'aho Airport (NFO), Niuafo'ou, Tonga would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,421 miles (or 11,943 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 Mata'aho 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 Mata'aho 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.
• 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.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.
• The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• For many years WFF was home to the NSIP Sub-SEM and SEM projects.
• 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.
• 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 Mata'aho Airport (NFO):

• The furthest airport from Mata'aho Airport (NFO) is Tahoua Airport (THZ), which is nearly antipodal to Mata'aho Airport (meaning Mata'aho Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tahoua Airport), and is located 12,360 miles (19,892 kilometers) away in Tahoua, Niger.
• The closest airport to Mata'aho Airport (NFO) is Wallis Island (WLS), which is located 164 miles (263 kilometers) NNW of NFO.