Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Santa Rosa, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS), Santa Rosa, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,541 miles (or 4,089 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 Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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 Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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 closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.
• On September 6, 2013, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer was launched from Wallops, atop a Minotaur V rocket.
• Since 2001, engineers at NASA Wallops Flight Facility have been developing new range technologies, systems and approaches to improve the cost and responsiveness of launch and flight test activities, within the constraints of available funding and program schedules.
• 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.
• In 1998, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, later joined by Maryland, built the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops on land leased from NASA.
• 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.

Facts about Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS):

• The closest airport to Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) is Marin County Airport (NOT), which is located 29 miles (46 kilometers) SSE of STS.
• The furthest airport from Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,331 miles (18,235 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• In addition to being known as "Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport", another name for STS is "Santa Rosa Army Airfield".
• In August 2013 the airport started a project to decouple the ends of the two runways and extend runway 14/32 by 885 feet, to 6000 feet and extend runway 1/19 by 200 feet, to 5202 feet.
• Commuter airlines flew smaller aircraft to San Francisco or San Jose from STS until 2001.
• The 478th Fighter Group was permanently assigned to Santa Rosa in December 1943 and began training replacement pilots, who were sent to combat units overseas after graduation.
• The Pacific Coast Air Museum is located on the southeast corner of the airport, next to the airplane hangar used in the 1963 Hollywood all-star comedy movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
• Opened in June 1942 and known as Santa Rosa Army Air Field, the airfield was assigned to Fourth Air Force as a group and replacement training airfield.
• Service to Las Vegas was stopped June 3, 2012.
• Because of Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport's relatively low elevation of 125 feet, planes can take off or land at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County 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.
• Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) has 2 runways.