Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Ust-Kut, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Ust-Kut Airport (UKX), Ust-Kut, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,887 miles (or 9,474 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 Ust-Kut 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 Ust-Kut 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
• The WFF Research Airport is located on the Main Base.

Facts about Ust-Kut Airport (UKX):

• Ust-Kut Airport handled 24,291 passengers last year.
• Ust-Kut Airport (UKX) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Ust-Kut Airport", another name for UKX is "Аэропорт Усть-Кут".
• The closest airport to Ust-Kut Airport (UKX) is Kirensk Airport (KCK), which is located 108 miles (173 kilometers) NE of UKX.
• Economic prospects are directly linked to the prospects of development of large oilfields and operation of Eastern Siberia – Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.
• Airport "Ust-Kut" is the third the size of the airport of regional significance in the Irkutsk Oblast.
• During World War II an airfield was built here for the Alaska-Siberian air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front.
• The furthest airport from Ust-Kut Airport (UKX) is Ushuaia International Airport (USH), which is nearly antipodal to Ust-Kut Airport (meaning Ust-Kut Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Ushuaia International Airport), and is located 12,167 miles (19,580 kilometers) away in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.