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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Plymouth City Airport (PLH), Plymouth, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,497 miles (or 5,628 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 Plymouth City 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 Plymouth City 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):

• 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 Wallops Visitor Center has a variety of hands-on exhibits and hosts weekly educational activities and programs to enable children to explore and learn about the technologies designed and used by NASA researchers and scientists.
• 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 Wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.
• In the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.
• 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 closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.

Facts about Plymouth City Airport (PLH):

• Air Southwest had its management head office at the airport, but announced that 12 jobs would be lost and its Plymouth office would close, moving instead to Humberside Airport, which is the main operations base for Eastern Airways.
• In 2009, 157,933 passengers passed through the airport, a sharp increase of 34.0% on the 2008 total of 117,823 making Plymouth one of the few UK airports experiencing significant growth during the period.
• In 1923, a mail flight, flown by Alan Cobham, to Croydon carried passengers from a grass strip at Chelson Meadow, Plymouth.
• Plymouth City Airport handled 157,933 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Plymouth City Airport (PLH) is Exeter International Airport (EXT), which is located 37 miles (60 kilometers) NE of PLH.
• Because of Plymouth City Airport's relatively low elevation of 476 feet, planes can take off or land at Plymouth City 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.
• Plymouth City Airport (PLH) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Plymouth City Airport (PLH) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is nearly antipodal to Plymouth City Airport (meaning Plymouth City Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dunedin International Airport), and is located 12,030 miles (19,361 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• In September 2007 the airport management announced that the second runway might be sold for industrial and residential development.