Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Porto Santo, Madeira, Portugal:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Porto Santo Airport (PXO), Porto Santo, Madeira, Portugal would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,287 miles (or 5,289 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 Porto Santo 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 Porto Santo 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 WFF Research Airport is located on the Main Base.
• 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.
• 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.
• Wallops Flight Facility, located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for N.A.S.A.
• The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
• The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
• 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 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 the early years, research at Wallops concentrated on obtaining aerodynamic data at transonic and low supersonic speeds.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.

Facts about Porto Santo Airport (PXO):

• Porto Santo Airport is an airport located 2 km north northwest of Porto Santo on Porto Santo Island, Madeira.
• Porto Santo Airport handled 106,592 passengers last year.
• The airport's infrastructure has improved over time, with increases to the runway length and in ramp surface.
• The closest airport to Porto Santo Airport (PXO) is Madeira Airport (FNC), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) SW of PXO.
• The furthest airport from Porto Santo Airport (PXO) is Lord Howe Island Airport (LDH), which is nearly antipodal to Porto Santo Airport (meaning Porto Santo Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Lord Howe Island Airport), and is located 12,150 miles (19,553 kilometers) away in Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, Australia.
• Because of Porto Santo Airport's relatively low elevation of 338 feet, planes can take off or land at Porto Santo 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 addition to being known as "Porto Santo Airport", another name for PXO is "Aeroporto de Porto Santo".
• Porto Santo Airport (PXO) currently has only 1 runway.