Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Johannesburg, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Rand Airport (QRA), Johannesburg, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,015 miles (or 12,899 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 Rand 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 Rand 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):

• 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.
• LCT2 is an effort to produce a relatively low-cost transceiver to allow launch vehicles to communicate through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System after they have gone over the horizon from the launch site.
• 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 closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems.
• The WFF Research Airport is located on the Main Base.

Facts about Rand Airport (QRA):

• The furthest airport from Rand Airport (QRA) is Hana Airport (HNM), which is located 11,977 miles (19,275 kilometers) away in Hana, Hawaii, United States.
• Rand Airport (QRA) has 2 runways.
• Because of Rand Airport's high elevation of 5,482 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at QRA. Combined with a high temperature, this could make QRA a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• de Havilland DH 104 Dove and Lockheed L18-08 Lodestar on view at the South African Airways Museum Society at Rand Airport.
• SAA moved its headquarters to Palmietfontein Airport in 1948 because of runway length constraints.
• Rand Airport is a popular location for filmmaking for both the local and international film industries.
• The closest airport to Rand Airport (QRA) is O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) NE of QRA.