Pilatus PC-12 at the Yucca runway

There are two planes at the somewhat mysterious new Yucca Lake runway. What I believe is a Pilatus PC-12 is located on Google Earth at
N36 55 38.36 w116 0 28.65
The plane next to it is probably a B190.

This photo shows three images: a PC-12 outline by itself, superimposed over the plane at Yucca Lake, and the Yucca plane all by itself.
www.lazygranch.com...

Lockheed Martin uses the PC-12 much like Groom Lake uses their Beechcraft.
n623ba & N146PC
flightaware.com...
flightaware.com...
They file the ownership under LMCO, presumably Lockheed Martin Company.

No flights to the Yucca airstrip have been logged, but they could be flying VFR.

When you say "new Yucca Lake runway" what time scale are we looking at?

Not really relevant to your post G

I hear Angelina Jolie is going to get a Pilatus PC-12

[edit on 21-1-2008 by thedeerhunter270]

reply to post by thedeerhunter270


Good point regarding Yucca. NV11 is the old runway on the dry lake. It appears in FAA documents. The new runway showed up maybe 2 years ago. At first it attracted minimal attention. Then when it never showed up on FAA documents, it became interesting. Then when the hangar construction started, it really became interesting. ;-)

There is a document related to the Yucca Mountain Project that discusses air traffic over the range. You should be able to find it by google "Identification of Aircraft Hazards". I think this is the report that says NV11 hasn't been used since the mid-90s.

I'm trying to track down the construction of the new runway. It started to show up in 2005 environmental reports. In theory, it should have showed up before construction started, but spooks have different rules than the rest of us.

Most of these UAVs under development are done on private airstrips or air bases. I really don't see how Lockheed rates to get their own private runway.

This is useful info

www.airport-data.com...

At 9000', should be able to take some pretty big aircraft?

[edit on 21-1-2008 by thedeerhunter270]

But this new runway is not NV11. NV11 is the runway on the dry lakebed. This new runway is not documented. Look at the numbers on the runway and you will see the orientation for the new runway doesn't match the documentation.

I remember when this thing popped up over at DLR, someone noted an R next to NV11 on a chart, no one seemed to really care. Nice catch on the PC-12. Could the other be a janet?

I also remember reading somewhere about the Polecat being flown out of the new Yucca strip... Any idea?

The Lockheed Martin Polecat UAV was flown off the old Area 6 runway on Yucca Dry Lake. It is an unpaved airstrip. The paved runway was built a few years ago.

Originally posted by Shadowhawk
The Lockheed Martin Polecat UAV was flown off the old Area 6 runway on Yucca Dry Lake. It is an unpaved airstrip. The paved runway was built a few years ago.

And that I'm guessing is NV11? They didn't store it there too did they? Was it stored over at Groom or Creech?

There was a small hangar near Yucca Lake that was originally built for Nevada Test Site security helicopters. Polecat was not stored or tested at Groom Lake because it was a proprietary project with no government customer.

Polecat joined a long list of UAVs to be tested at remote dry lakebeds throughout the desert Southwest including Rogers Lake (Edwards AFB, California), Groom Lake (Area 51, Nevada), Yucca Lake (Area 6, Nevada), Randsburg Wash (NAWC China Lake, California), and El Mirage Lake, California, just to name a few.

Originally posted by Shadowhawk
There was a small hangar near Yucca Lake that was originally built for Nevada Test Site security helicopters. Polecat was not stored or tested at Groom Lake because it was a proprietary project with no government customer.

Ah, yeah that makes sense. Never knew Yucca had a hangar, I'm assuming there would have had to have been a deal between them and the DoE? Not like Lockheed can just stroll on in...

Is the hangar still around, and if so, could you list the coordinates?

Thanks for the info.

The old hangar is on the southwest edge of Yucca Lake. It is due south of the southernmost sump pond, just a little bit west of the southern end of the dry lakebed runway.

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


I don't get the comment on the "R". In any event, the runway orientation of the paved runway is different from the one on dirt, so they can't be confused.

I think it is very likely the planes are a Groom Janet and a LMCO PC-12.

I think I have exhausted all possibilities to get the construction docuemetns out of the NTS reading room. That is, the representative of the reading room admits the new runway and hangar exist and says they have no paperwork on them. Clearly, you can't pave the desert with an environmental The next sstep is probably a FOIA.

reply to post by gariac


I'm sorry, someone noted a U in a circle (unverified) next to NV11 on an aeronautical chart, not an R. But anyway...

Didn't know LMCO had PC-12s... Have some tail numbers?

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


The tail numbers are in the post at the top of the thread.

reply to post by gariac


Pff, sometimes I think I'm going blind.

I have an airport diagram from the "FLIP" for NV11 here:
www.lazygranch.com/flip.htm

It's old, but it matches the last FLIP available to the public.

Clearly, this is not the new runway, even though it existed in the FLIP I have, dated Dec 20, 2007. The runway orientation is wrong.

I just drove by there today on another project. And when I asked about it from an associate with a "Q" security clearance he looked at me with the look of "Don't ask me about that", he just smiled.

You also to look at the proximity of that field to the Nuclear Device Assembly Facility. In fact the road from the new field crosses the Mercury Hwy and continues to the Assembly Facility.

And about 500 yards south of the Assembly facility Homeland Security is building a huge new airline related training facility.

Google earth clearly shows the larger hangar under construction. Viewing the hangar area from the old dirt strip and verified by Google earth, the hangars are steel rib structure with canvas topping.

It could be a UAV strip but I think it is an executive strip tied to the Assembly Center or Homeland security

reply to post by DesertWatchdog


36 55' 35.71" N

116 00' 25.94" W

New runway measures 5000 feet, marked 1 - 19. Name not known or registered. Googles indicate only old salt strip as NV11, Yucca airstrip. Construction seems to have started in 2005.