Nonstop flight route between Thorne Bay, Alaska, United States and Wallops Island, Virginia, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from KTB to WAL:
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- About this route
- KTB Airport Information
- WAL Airport Information
- Facts about KTB
- Facts about WAL
- Map of Nearest Airports to KTB
- List of Nearest Airports to KTB
- Map of Furthest Airports from KTB
- List of Furthest Airports from KTB
- Map of Nearest Airports to WAL
- List of Nearest Airports to WAL
- Map of Furthest Airports from WAL
- List of Furthest Airports from WAL
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Thorne Bay Seaplane Base (KTB), Thorne Bay, Alaska, United States and Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,864 miles (or 4,609 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 Thorne Bay Seaplane Base and Wallops Flight Facility 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 Thorne Bay Seaplane Base and Wallops Flight Facility Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | KTB / |
Airport Name: | Thorne Bay Seaplane Base |
Location: | Thorne Bay, Alaska, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 55°41'17"N by 132°32'12"W |
Area Served: | Thorne Bay, Alaska |
Operator/Owner: | State of Alaska DOT&PF - Southeast Region |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 0 feet (0 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from KTB |
More Information: | KTB Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | WAL / KWAL |
Airport Name: | Wallops Flight Facility Airport |
Location: | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°56'24"N by 75°27'59"W |
Elevation: | 0 feet (0 meters) |
View all routes: | Routes from WAL |
More Information: | WAL Maps & Info |
Facts about Thorne Bay Seaplane Base (KTB):
- The closest airport to Thorne Bay Seaplane Base (KTB) is Hollis Clark Bay Seaplane Base (HYL), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) SSW of KTB.
- The furthest airport from Thorne Bay Seaplane Base (KTB) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 10,618 miles (17,088 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
- Thorne Bay Seaplane Base (KTB) currently has only 1 runway.
- Because of Thorne Bay Seaplane Base's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Thorne Bay Seaplane Base 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):
- 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.
- 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.
- The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
- 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.
- AFSS is a project to develop an autonomous on-board system that could augment or replace traditional ground-commanded Range Safety flight termination systems.
- Weather measurements and predictions are critical to all Research Airport operations, rocket and balloon launches, and in safely conducting hazardous operations on the ground.
- 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.