Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Madrid–Torrejón Airport (TOJ), Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,748 miles (or 6,031 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 Madrid–Torrejón 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 Madrid–Torrejón 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 Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• The Wallops Flight Facility also supports science missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and occasionally for foreign governments and commercial organizations.
• 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.
• The NASA Wallops Flight Facility has alliances with a number of organizations important to its mission and future growth.
• 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.
• 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.
• The Wallops mobile range instrumentation includes telemetry, radar, command and power systems.
• 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.

Facts about Madrid–Torrejón Airport (TOJ):

• Madrid–Torrejón Airport (TOJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Madrid–Torrejón Airport (TOJ) is Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport[1] (MAD), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) WSW of TOJ.
• The furthest airport from Madrid–Torrejón Airport (TOJ) is Palmerston North Airport (PMR), which is nearly antipodal to Madrid–Torrejón Airport (meaning Madrid–Torrejón Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Palmerston North Airport), and is located 12,386 miles (19,933 kilometers) away in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
• After the 1991 cease-fire in Iraq, plans proceeded to close Torrejon Air Base.
• As the time approached in 1987 for the renegotiation of the existing base agreement, which had entered into force in 1983 for a five-year period, pressures mounted for a reduction of the United States military presence in Spain.
• In addition to being known as "Madrid–Torrejón Airport", other names for TOJ include "Aeropuerto de Madrid/Barajas", "Torrejón Air Base" and "Base Aérea de Torrejón".