Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Portimão, Algarve, Portugal:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAL to PRM:
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- About this route
- WAL Airport Information
- PRM Airport Information
- Facts about WAL
- Facts about PRM
- 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 PRM
- List of Nearest Airports to PRM
- Map of Furthest Airports from PRM
- List of Furthest Airports from PRM
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Portimão Airport (PRM), Portimão, Algarve, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,581 miles (or 5,763 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 Portimão 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 Portimão 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: | PRM / LPPM |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Portimão, Algarve, Portugal |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°8'51"N by 8°34'46"W |
Area Served: | Portimão |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 5 feet (2 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from PRM |
More Information: | PRM 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.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- 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 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.
Facts about Portimão Airport (PRM):
- Because of Portimão Airport's relatively low elevation of 5 feet, planes can take off or land at Portimão 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 Portimão Airport (PRM) is Dargaville Aerodrome (DGR), which is nearly antipodal to Portimão Airport (meaning Portimão Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dargaville Aerodrome), and is located 12,276 miles (19,756 kilometers) away in Dargaville, New Zealand.
- The closest airport to Portimão Airport (PRM) is Faro International Airport (FAO), which is located 35 miles (56 kilometers) ESE of PRM.
- In addition to being known as "Portimão Airport", another name for PRM is "Aeródromo Municipal de Portimão".
- Portimão Airport (PRM) currently has only 1 runway.