Nonstop flight route between Pinellas County, Florida (near St. Petersburg and Clearwater), United States and Kabul, Afghanistan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE), Pinellas County, Florida (near St. Petersburg and Clearwater), United States and Kabul International Airport (KBL), Kabul, Afghanistan would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,746 miles (or 12,466 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport and Kabul International 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 St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE):

• Because of its lesser pace of operations, PIE is frequently used instead of TPA as a destination airport by pilots of private planes and executive jets for access to the Tampa Bay Area.
• The furthest airport from St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is Shark Bay Airport (MJK), which is located 11,426 miles (18,388 kilometers) away in Monkey Mia, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is Clearwater Air Park (CLW), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NW of PIE.
• Also, the airport recently completed a US$22 million renovation, including, among other things, expanding the gate sizes, new plumbing, and building loading bridges, as the current system requires all passengers to walk across the tarmac to the gate.
• St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport (PIE) has 4 runways.
• Because of St. Pete–Clearwater International Airport's relatively low elevation of 11 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Pete–Clearwater International 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 airport is home of Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, the largest and busiest U.S.
• This historic event marked the beginning of commercial air transportation anywhere in the world and is commemorated by a replica of the Benoist aircraft and a plaque at the airport terminal baggage claim area.

Facts about Kabul International Airport (KBL):

• An F-15E Strike Eagle from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., sits on the runway at the Kabul International Airport September 2011.
• Because of Kabul International Airport's high elevation of 5,877 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at KBL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make KBL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Kabul International Airport (KBL) is Mataveri International Airport (IPC), which is located 11,919 miles (19,182 kilometers) away in Easter Island, Chile.
• Kabul International Airport (KBL) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Kabul International Airport", another name for KBL is "میدان هوایی بین المللی کابل".
• Kabul Airport was originally built in the early 1960s by Soviet engineers.
• The airport has two terminal buildings, the modern for international flights and the Soviet built one for domestic flights.
• The closest airport to Kabul International Airport (KBL) is Bagram Airfield (OAI), which is located 26 miles (43 kilometers) N of KBL.
• The Kabul International Airport was built in the early 1960s.