Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Pico Island, Azores, Portugal:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAL to PIX:
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- About this route
- WAL Airport Information
- PIX Airport Information
- Facts about WAL
- Facts about PIX
- 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 PIX
- List of Nearest Airports to PIX
- Map of Furthest Airports from PIX
- List of Furthest Airports from PIX
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Pico Airport (PIX), Pico Island, Azores, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,523 miles (or 4,061 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 Pico 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 Pico 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: | PIX / LPPI |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Pico Island, Azores, Portugal |
GPS Coordinates: | 38°33'15"N by 28°26'29"W |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 112 feet (34 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from PIX |
More Information: | PIX Maps & Info |
Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
Facts about Pico Airport (PIX):
- Because of Pico Airport's relatively low elevation of 112 feet, planes can take off or land at Pico 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 closest airport to Pico Airport (PIX) is Horta International Airport (HOR), which is located only 15 miles (24 kilometers) W of PIX.
- In addition to being known as "Pico Airport", another name for PIX is "Aeroporto do Pico".
- In 1990, with the arrival of new ATP aircraft for SATA Air Açores' fleet, the decision was taken to extend the runway, to improve operations with this type of aircraft.
- Pico Airport (PIX) currently has only 1 runway.
- The furthest airport from Pico Airport (PIX) is Merimbula Airport (MIM), which is nearly antipodal to Pico Airport (meaning Pico Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Merimbula Airport), and is located 12,291 miles (19,781 kilometers) away in Merimbula, New South Wales, Australia.