12 mile runway?!

alright, im a highschool student, and i was doing a research project on area 51...er..."groom lake" (as my teacher wanted me to call it) and i heard that they construced a 12 mile long runway? is this true...and if it is, what the hell would take 12 miles to take off or land???

thanks

Google is always a good place to start.

The actual poured portion of the runaway I think is 2-3 miles, but the drylake bed goes for quite a while.

See the Area 51 Research group in the research forum for more minutia on the site.

google is where i got that info. but i will check out that research thing, thanks for the info.

if i found the link that said that...i will post it

There is no 12-mile runway at Groom Lake. That is a myth.

The runway that causes all the confusion was built for the Lockheed A-12 (Project OXCART). When that airstrip (Runway 14/32) was constructed in 1960, it was 8,500 feet long (concrete) with a 10,000 foot asphalt overrun onto the lakebed. There was a concrete turnaround pad at mid-lake and an unpaved extension with a line (Abort Circle) curving off around the north end of the lakebed.

In the 1980s, the south end of the runway was extended (giving the concrete airstrip a length 13,000 feet plus overruns) because the north end of the concrete strip was subject to flooding during the rainy season.

The runway was becoming increasingly expensive to maintain. In 1991, construction started on a new, parallel airstrip (Runway 14L/32R). When it was completed in 1992, the old runway (now called 14R/32L) was reduced to 10,000 feet by closing most of the north half (as well as the overrun).

Eventually the original runway was closed entirely. The new strip has no lakebed extension, just a line to the Abort Circle. The new strip is also about 13,000 feet, plus a little extra on each end, and 150 feet wide.

In 2001, South Delta Taxiway became Runway 12/30. It is about 5,420 feet long. There are also two crosswind runways (09/27 L&R and 03/21 L&R). marked on the lakebed. They are roughly 10,000 feet long.

I don't know how to measure scale on these, but NASA World Wind or Google Earth should allow you to measure with some accuracy. The top photo is from NASA, but Google Earth gives the best view.



And you can get some great ground detail.


EDIT:

OK. Maybe if you count the "over run" areas it still is the longest. The north end over run, which runs across the lake bed, becomes a bit nebulous when it exits the northwest shore, but its somewhere between 14,000 and 16,000 feet. The south over run, including a 200 foot blast pad, is 3200 feet. The grand total comes to 31,950 feet, or just a bit over 6 miles. home.houston.rr.com...

This article says about 6 miles.

Here is the nebulous region at the north shore.


[edit on 28/3/2006 by anxietydisorder]

www.area51zone.com...

this is the site that says its 12 miles or 10 miles and so on and so forth...im not sure its BS...but i'll trust you guys and your opinions...

If you have any quaestion about it, re-read my post above. The facts are not in question. You can verify them using the available aerial and satellite photographs of the base. The scale is easily determined using a topographic map of the lakebed. I think most of the photos are available on the Internet (check out www.dreamlandresort.com). The most useful images were taken in 1959, 1968, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2006.

Shadowhawk is indeed correct, the thing that throws most people off is that it is common to state the physical length of the runway in terms of actual feet/miles/etc. in which case the largest runway at the installation is indeed immensely longer than any other in the world. However, they do not account for the operational length. Do not account for the lake bed over-runs.

now how exactly do you find area 51 on google earth?

Originally posted by metalhead1026
now how exactly do you find area 51 on google earth?

There are numerous articles about Area 51/Google Earth in the Area 51 and other Facilities forum already. Please use the Search feature or simply browse through this forum as there are quite a few.

alright, thanks for all of the info guys! you're all a big help!

This help out?

I screen shotted it along time ago, so this should help. 4.6 miles is the longest there.

btw i know it says longest runway to the rigt when its left...

Typo my bad.

[edit on 12-4-2006 by A R E A 5 1 N E W B]

AREA51NEWB, assuming you still are a newbie then maybe you should start by reading a thread before posting on it. What you have shown goes against the points that everyone else has made, you have measured the runway plus the non-active tarmac runoff. It was this mistake that created the original "longest runway in the world" rumour. Also for the record that entire left runway is now non-active.

You have voted Shadowhawk for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.