Nonstop flight route between Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Abha / Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD), Tonopah, Nevada, United States and Abha Regional Airport (AHB), Abha / Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,341 miles (or 13,424 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport and Abha Regional 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport and Abha Regional 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 Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD):

• On 16 August 1966, Iraqi Air Force Captain Munir Redfa took off from Rasheed Air Base, near Baghdad on a routine navigation training flight.
• The closest airport to Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Tonopah Airport (TPH), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) NW of XSD.
• The earliest known depiction of the airfield was on the July 1970 Air Force Tactical Pilotage Chart.
• The furthest airport from Tonopah Test Range Airport (XSD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,207 miles (18,036 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• In May 1973, when Project HAVE IDEA was initiated for joint technical and tactical evaluation of Soviet aircraft types, the tactical evaluation flights of foreign aircraft were undertaken by Detachment 1, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing.
• In 2006, the Constant Peg program was declassified and the USAF held a series of press conferences about the former top secret US MiGs.
• The assets of the squadron could not go to the boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB, and the fate of them remains in some cases, still classified.
• In 1980 the 4477th TEF was re-designated as the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron and the operation was renamed again to Constant Peg.
• Beginning in October 1979 Tonopah Test Range Airport was reconstructed and expanded.

Facts about Abha Regional Airport (AHB):

• The furthest airport from Abha Regional Airport (AHB) is Pukarua Airport (PUK), which is nearly antipodal to Abha Regional Airport (meaning Abha Regional Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Pukarua Airport), and is located 12,415 miles (19,980 kilometers) away in Pukarua, Tuamotus, French Polynesia.
• The closest airport to Abha Regional Airport (AHB) is Bisha Domestic Airport (BHH), which is located 121 miles (194 kilometers) N of AHB.
• In addition to being known as "Abha Regional Airport", another name for AHB is "مطار أبهـــا".
• The design was carried out by the Dutch Consultants NACO.
• Construction of Abha Airport was started in mid-1975 by Laing Wimpey Alireza.
• Abha Regional Airport (AHB) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Abha Regional Airport's high elevation of 6,858 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at AHB. Combined with a high temperature, this could make AHB a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The airport resides at an elevation of 6,858 feet above mean sea level.