5 mile runway at AREA 51

No sh*t! that would suck!

I suppose it would make sense that a multitude of aircraft would be able to take off from there, kinda like the Army Airforce did in the 1940's...

But more than likely it is for hyper-sonic aircraft...

My boss was a Colnel in the US Air Force for 20 years and worked at Groom for 5 of them as a test pilot / instructor.

He told me the runway was over 10 miles long and reckoned that the SR71 was so slow, he laughed at me. He hasn't yet told me much more about what he 'test' flew but I reckon it was fast etc.

When he opens up more to me, I'll let you all know!

I can't tell you his name except he is genuine and has 3 slipped discs from ejecting whilst test flying something that hovered, that's all he said!

Originally posted by Th0r
Wow never thought about nuclear powered aircraft before, what would be the chances it would blow up if it crashed?

No chance of a nuclear powered aircraft 'blowing up' if it crashed, nuclear reactors simply dont do that. They can overpressurise the reactor vessel - which is what happened at Chernobyl, but with an aircraft crash all that would happen is that yoou would get a lot of radioactive debris everywhere. You wouldnt get a nuclear explosion.

Oh, and Groom Lake cannot be used as an alternative Shuttle landing strip, its in completely the wrong place for the Shuttle to be able to reenter from orbit for (due to orbital mechanics - you couldnt create a glide path from the orbital inclination of the shuttle to GL).

There has been prodjet about aircraft that has been driven by newclare power. But the pilots got to much radiation so they did quit. And Why cant they land a space shutle on area 51??? I diden understand that. Cant they manual steer the craft and fly it like a normal plane???

The answer is obvious. They're testing some out of this world craft out there.

the shuttle has minimal controll on re-entry and sorta lands where they throw it ,but as to why they cant get it to land there b4 the whole re entry thing has got me aswell ?

Originally posted by Liquidus
The answer is obvious. They're testing some out of this world craft out there.

If you mean this becouse of the 5 mile long runway... I do think that if thay have alien craft there they doen need runways... And there is no proove that they do test them there. Lazar said that they tested them at S4 nor at Area 51. It is youst a millitary plane facility for research. Sorry if this is not what you ment

Do a little research guys, the whole 5 mile runway thing is a myth. The old runway which has the asphalt overrun strip over the lakebed was shut down in the early 90's when the new runway was completed. That is just a bit less than 12000 ft. Barely 2 miles.

Oki but cant they use the old one still? I have heard that the new one was youst a extra runway...
The long runway is still in use I think

[edit on 28-12-2004 by Xon]

October 1992

When Runway 14L/32R was completed, the old airstrip became Runway 14R/32L. The new runway had no asphalt extension, but an overrun line, extending to "The Hook" was marked on the lakebed. Most of the northern half of Runway 14R/32L was closed, reducing the active runway length to about 10,000 feet.

From www.dreamlandresort.com...

Ok, about the Spac Shuttle, something you have to remember, this is not a plane, but rather a flying brick. It does not have a single jet engine but rather rocket engines which are useless during re-entry. Check Out this page for a complete list of worldwide landing sites, as NASA has agrements with several countries to land there in and emergency. Space Shuttle Landing Sites. You have to remember that the shuttle is just a huge glider when it's landing, it's all about the line up while in space where they can still use the rocket engines. -Muzz

Whai is so special whit this landing strips??? Tnx for the info learning new thing every day

Just it's length...

Lets see though...

You're testing the fastest supersonic aircraft in the world, and you're of course, still in the TESTING phase. Any crash would be a setback of millions, perhaps billions of dollars. Suddenly, having a nice long runway doesn't sound like such a bad idea, does it?

No i dident mean the runway at area 51 but what is spesial about why a space shutel cant land at area 51. Of corse I did know why the runway was so long at area 51

Originally posted by Xon
No i dident mean the runway at area 51 but what is spesial about why a space shutel cant land at area 51. Of corse I did know why the runway was so long at area 51

Basically, take a house brick, now add some triangular wings made out of stiff cardboard, take to the highest floor in your building and throw it out the window. Congratulations, you have a fairly accurate simulation of what the Shuttle is actually like to fly. Its gliding abilities are basically rubbish, it cant deviate much from the reentry slope, it cant turn much at high speeds, it cant manouever a lot at all.

Nearly all of the Shuttles orbital paths are above the equator, because both Hubble and the ISS are in those orbital inclinations. This makes reentry for its current recovery bases easy, as a reentry basically points the aircraft straight at them, which is of course why those facilities were built there.

Area51 is both built at the wrong angle, and is surrounded by mountainous areas, not something you want to put an aircraft that has a worse glideslope than a 747 with no engines into.

Basically, the Shuttle was designed to use the current recovery strips, and the recovery strips were designed specifically foir the Shuttle.

Aaaa now I understand. Thanx

Ahem, when I said 'above the equator', I meant 'north of the equator'

Oki but does not iss go all over the world??? Like a other satelite

[edit on 28-12-2004 by Xon]

Originally posted by Xon
Oki but does not iss go all over the world??? Like a other satelite

[edit on 28-12-2004 by Xon]

It circles around the world. There are a lot of countries it doesnt pass over. There are, incidentally, only a few launch sites in the world that can reach the orbital inclination that the ISS is in.

When the ISS was first created, as the Alpha Space Station by NASA, it was to be in a much southerly orbit, one that the Shuttles could reach from Canaveral with less fuel required. When the Russians came on board, they wanted to reach the station from their launch sites in Khazakstan and the Ukrain. The station was shifted to a higher orbit after much NASA complaints, particularly about extra fuel costs. NASA even threatened to pull out several times over these extra costs. But the Russians persisted, and had the orbit moved so they could reach it.

I bet NASA are somewhat glad they did move the orbit in the end, dont you?

Here's the image that FallenFromTheTree was trying to host before, just in case anyone wanted to know what was behind the ad.