Nonstop flight route between Pituffik, Greenland and Maun, Botswana:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland and Maun Airport (MUB), Maun, Botswana would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,593 miles (or 12,220 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 Thule Air Base and Maun 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 Thule Air Base and Maun 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 Thule Air Base (THU):

• Thule Air Base is also home to the 821st Air Base Group and is responsible for air base support within the Thule Defense Area for the multinational population of "Team Thule." The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron which operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System designed to detect and track ICBMs launched against North America.
• Thule Air Base has served as the regional hub for nearby installations, including Cape Atholl, Camp Century, Camp TUTO, Sites 1 and 2, P-Mountain, J-Site, North and South Mountains, and a research rocket firing site.
• Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.
• Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• Thule Air Base is home to the 21st Space Wing's global network of sensors providing missile warning, space surveillance and space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command.
• In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
• Thule is the location where the fastest recorded sea level surface wind speed in the world was measured when a peak speed of 333 kilometres per hour was recorded on 8 March 1972 prior to the instrument's destruction.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• In 1957 construction began on 4 Nike Missile sites around the base, and they and their radar systems were operational by the end of 1958.

Facts about Maun Airport (MUB):

• The first planes to land here were before World War II – in the 1930s, just a mere 30 or so years after the Wright brothers made their historic first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• The furthest airport from Maun Airport (MUB) is Kona International Airport at Keāhole (KOA), which is nearly antipodal to Maun Airport (meaning Maun Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Kona International Airport at Keāhole), and is located 12,399 miles (19,954 kilometers) away in Kailua / Kona, Hawaii, United States.
• Maun Airport (MUB) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Maun Airport (MUB) is Ghanzi Airport (GNZ), which is located 165 miles (266 kilometers) SW of MUB.