Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Moffett Federal Airfield (KNUQ) is a joint civil-military airfield beside the southern end of San Francisco Bay, between Mountain View and Sunnyvale, California, long associated with the US Navy and now home to NASA Ames Research Center. Its two long parallel runways, distinctive giant hangars and layered military and space-research history make it a striking destination for a simulator pilot exploring the Bay Area, though real-world access is restricted to authorised traffic.
Moffett Federal Airfield sits on the southern shore of San Francisco Bay between Mountain View and Sunnyvale in Santa Clara County, California. Once a US Navy air station built for airship operations, it is now operated as a federal airfield associated with NASA Ames Research Center, hosting a mix of NASA, California Air National Guard and occasional Marine Corps traffic. For a sim pilot the field is notable for its two very long hard-surfaced runways, an ILS approach, and the huge Hangar One and Hangar Two structures that dominate the airfield's skyline, making it an unmistakable Bay Area landmark.
Moffett Field lies in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, sandwiched between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale, near the south end of San Francisco Bay and to the northwest of San Jose. The adjacent NASA Ames Research Center, including its wind tunnel complexes, sits within the same perimeter as the airfield.
Moffett has two parallel hard-surfaced runways aligned 14/32. The primary runway, 14L/32R, is 9,180 ft long, lit, and equipped with an ILS. The second runway, 14R/32L, is a hard surface, lit runway recorded at 8,123 ft in the 14R direction and 7,516 ft in the 32L direction, without an ILS. Field elevation is 16 ft.
Moffett's tower and common frequency is 119.55 MHz (callsign for both CTAF and TWR use). ATIS/ASOS information is broadcast on 124.175 MHz, ground movements are worked on 121.85 MHz, and NORCAL Approach and Departure control the surrounding airspace on 120.1 MHz and 121.3 MHz respectively. Clearance delivery is on 38.08 MHz, and Base Ops can be reached on 25.17 MHz, with a further military miscellaneous frequency of 39.09 MHz used by the Air National Guard. The field has an ILS approach available to the primary runway.
The site began as farmland acquired by the city of Sunnyvale in 1930 and transferred to the US government for one dollar as a base for the Navy airship USS Macon. Its location proved ideal for flying because the Coast Range to the west shields the area from the fog that often affects other parts of San Francisco Bay. Authorised by an Act of Congress signed by President Herbert Hoover on 12 February 1931, the station was commissioned in April 1933 as NAS Sunnyvale. Following the death of Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, credited with creating the airfield, in the crash of the airship USS Akron on 4 April 1933, the field was renamed Moffett Field on 1 September 1933. After the Macon itself crashed in the Pacific in February 1935, the Navy briefly considered closing the station. Hangar One, built in 1931 to house the airships, is one of the largest freestanding structures in the world, covering eight acres, and is a Naval Historical Monument and California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark; it was listed among America's Most Endangered Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2008. Hangar Two, one of the world's largest freestanding wood structures, survives alongside it as part of a National Historic District that also includes the adjacent Shenandoah Plaza; Hangar Three, once its twin, was demolished in 2024. NAS Moffett Field closed as a naval air station on 1 July 1994 and was transferred to NASA Ames Research Center, which has operated the site since as Moffett Federal Airfield.
Moffett Federal Airfield is operated in association with NASA Ames Research Center and hosts a mix of federal and military tenants, including the 129th Rescue Wing of the California Air National Guard, which flies the HC-130J Combat King II and HH-60G Pave Hawk, and the headquarters of the 7th Psychological Operations Group of the US Army Reserve. NASA also operates several of its own aircraft from the field, and Marine Corps jets occasionally stage through en route to nearby offshore military operating areas. In 2014 NASA leased 1,000 acres of the airfield property to Google for sixty years. Traffic is light, with only a handful of flights landing on an average day, and access to the airfield is restricted, with prior permission required for any visiting flight. The historic Hangar One, Hangar Two and Shenandoah Plaza area is preserved as a National Historic District, with part of Hangar One's interior accessible to the public.