Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Pierre, South Dakota, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAL to PIR:
Share this route:
Jump to:
- About this route
- WAL Airport Information
- PIR Airport Information
- Facts about WAL
- Facts about PIR
- 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 PIR
- List of Nearest Airports to PIR
- Map of Furthest Airports from PIR
- List of Furthest Airports from PIR
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Pierre Regional Airport (PIR), Pierre, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,359 miles (or 2,188 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 relatively short distance between Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Pierre Regional Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.
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: | PIR / KPIR |
| Airport Names: |
|
| Location: | Pierre, South Dakota, United States |
| GPS Coordinates: | 44°22'58"N by 100°17'9"W |
| Area Served: | Pierre, South Dakota |
| Operator/Owner: | City of Pierre |
| Airport Type: | Public |
| Elevation: | 1744 feet (532 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 2 |
| View all routes: | Routes from PIR |
| More Information: | PIR Maps & Info |
Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):
- The Wallops Research Range includes ground-based and mobile systems, and a range control center.
- The NASA Wallops Flight Facility has alliances with a number of organizations important to its mission and future growth.
- The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
- 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.
- In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.
- AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
- 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.
- On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
Facts about Pierre Regional Airport (PIR):
- During World War II the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces by Air Technical Service Command as a maintenance and supply depot.
- The closest airport to Pierre Regional Airport (PIR) is Mobridge Municipal Airport (MBG), which is located 81 miles (130 kilometers) N of PIR.
- In addition to being known as "Pierre Regional Airport", another name for PIR is "Pierre Army Airfield".
- Pierre Regional Airport (PIR) has 2 runways.
- The furthest airport from Pierre Regional Airport (PIR) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,493 miles (16,887 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
