Nonstop flight route between Mountain View, California, United States and Kandahar, Afghanistan:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from NUQ to KDH:
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- About this route
- NUQ Airport Information
- KDH Airport Information
- Facts about NUQ
- Facts about KDH
- Map of Nearest Airports to NUQ
- List of Nearest Airports to NUQ
- Map of Furthest Airports from NUQ
- List of Furthest Airports from NUQ
- Map of Nearest Airports to KDH
- List of Nearest Airports to KDH
- Map of Furthest Airports from KDH
- List of Furthest Airports from KDH
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), Mountain View, California, United States and Kabul International Airport (KDH), Kandahar, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,648 miles (or 12,307 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 Moffett Federal Airfield and Kabul International 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 Moffett Federal Airfield and Kabul International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | NUQ / KNUQ |
Airport Name: | Moffett Federal Airfield |
Location: | Mountain View, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°24'53"N by 122°2'53"W |
Operator/Owner: | NASA Ames Research Center |
Airport Type: | Private |
Elevation: | 32 feet (10 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from NUQ |
More Information: | NUQ Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | KDH / OAKN |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | Kandahar, Afghanistan |
GPS Coordinates: | 31°30'25"N by 65°51'1"E |
Area Served: | Southern Afghanistan |
Operator/Owner: | Afghanistan |
Airport Type: | Public/Military |
Elevation: | 3330 feet (1,015 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from KDH |
More Information: | KDH Maps & Info |
Facts about Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ):
- Because of Moffett Federal Airfield's relatively low elevation of 32 feet, planes can take off or land at Moffett Federal Airfield 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 furthest airport from Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,365 miles (18,290 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- Moffett Field's "Hangar One" and the row of World War II blimp hangars are still some of the largest unsupported structures in the country.
- On April 16, 1942, control of the facility was returned to the Navy and it was re-commissioned as NAS Sunnyvale.
- Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) has 2 runways.
- In 2006, an offer to clean the hangar and coat its outsides with solar panels to recoup the costs of cleaning was floated by a private company, but the plan never saw fruition because it was too costly.
- The closest airport to Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (PAO), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of NUQ.
- By far the most famous and visible sites are Hangars #1, #2, and #3, which dwarf the surrounding buildings.
Facts about Kabul International Airport (KDH):
- With the closure of Camp Julien in Kabul in November 2005, most of the Canadian Forces personnel in Afghanistan were transferred to Kandahar province.
- The Afghan government has been slow in rebuilding the facility, the vast majority of it has been reclaimed from years of neglect and damage by Soviet and Taliban soldiers.
- The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is nearly antipodal to Kabul International Airport (meaning Kabul International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Mataveri International Airport), and is located 12,023 miles (19,349 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
- In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", other names for KDH include "Kandahar International Airport (Kandahar)" and "میدان هوایی بین المللی کندهار".
- The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KDH) is Tarin Kowt Airport (TII), which is located 76 miles (123 kilometers) N of KDH.
- The airport was mostly used at this time for military and humanitarian purposes, hosting regular flights of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to and from Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat and Peshawar.
- Since the airport was designed as a military base, it is likely that the United States intended to use it in case there was a show-down of war between the United States and former USSR.
- During Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001, Kandahar Airport was one of the first coalition bases established in Afghanistan.
- Kabul International Airport (KDH) currently has only 1 runway.
- The 159th Combat Aviation Brigade became the main U.S.