Tonopah Test Range panorama 7/28/2009

Less than optimal conditions. Serious haze, more like a ground fog, wind, and clouds in the sky that kept moving large shadows around as I photographed the base.

TTR small panorama

My browsers can't load this one, but you should be able to save it and open it up with irfanview or perhaps another photo editor.

TTR large panorama

Older images here (for comparison):
old TTR images

Wow, that's a whole lot to look at.

And what were you doing taking pictures there huh? lol

reply to post by breakingdradles


Just exercising my constitutional rights. If I may paraphrase Pete Seger, BLM land is your land, BLM is my land.....

Wow, good shots. Put some hours in have you? Careful, one of these days you may get something on film that you shouldn't have. Although, now that I think about it that is doubtful, I don't think they do high end secret stuff there but the place is still very interesting and your pics are too cool.

reply to post by IgnoreTheFacts


The TTR has it's own UAV wing with unknown charter. I don't know if this is the hangar for the project, but they added a privacy fence to block the view from public land:
www.lazygranch.com...

The TTR is just a bit less spooky than Groom Lake. It exists in a gray rather than black world, but you still don't know what goes on there. Most believe things like engine testing go on there. You can mount a test engine on an aircraft and nobody will notice.

what is the optical zoom on your camera?

reply to post by hiii_98


Optical zoom? Those photos are through a telescope. You need to get about 2000mm of focal length. This can be with a telescope and a barlow like a Televue powermate, a cascade of two high quality barlows, or eyepiece projection. [A teleconverter is a barlow.] These were taken through a now obsolete Takahashi FS78. [Really a shame they dropped that model since it was a cheap (ha!) APO telescope.]

telephotography 101

The nice thing about the TTR is you can view it without a hike from hell nor do you need to be on a mountain top. You do need to do a 20+ mile drive offroad.

I have a friend that works for a paving company and is currently working at TTR paving and marking the runway. He said they have him staying at the clown motel in tonapah.

On Wednesday of last week he was back in vegas and we were talking.
He was telling me that when any aircraft lands while they are working they have to stand 100 yards off of the runway.

Well he also told me that one day they were instructed to stand 300 yards off of the runway while one particular aircraft landed. He said it landed and was only there for a short period of time. We didnt get into a discussion about what it did after it landed so i dont know exactly why it was there.. but he did say it looked like something he had never seen before (just to mention this he is not that keen on aircraft so he had a hard time describing it to me). He said it made absolutely no sound from it at all, and the only thing he could hear was the wind blowing across the desert when it landed and took off. He said when any of the other jet aircraft landed that it was ridiculously loud as im sure you could imagine only standing 100 yards from them. He continued to tell me that when it took off it was unbelievably fast and took off of the runway in a very very short distance still with no sound, NOTHING like the jets and other aircraft that would take off.

He then said that one of the other guys he was working with that had been working there and at groom lake test site for a long time (he said he was some kind of tech) and told him that he was probably 1 of 600 people to see this aircraft and that this plane was capable of space flight. He said it was the first time he seen it land at TTR but was flying out of groom lake daily when he was working there.

I asked him to describe it to me because he doesnt know much about aircraft. He told me it had no visible propulsion engines under the wings or at the back of it. The underside was very smooth like the stealth(because he mentioned seeing those fly through there a couple times). He said it had features like the stealth but the wings were more towards the back.

Take it for what its worth but i thought id mention this because people are not exactly sure what goes on @ TTR..

reply to post by gmax111


I've never stayed at the Clown Motel, mostly because they have a sign saying "bikers welcome." Nothing against bikers mind you, but those bikes are loud.

Hard to say how much of your story is true, but the thing to keep in mind is the theory (rumor) about the TTR is they do engine testing. The engines may be in conventional aircraft since, well, it's just an engine and nobody is going to notice. Or they use a multi-engine jet and only one engine is under test (development). So yeah, I could believe a quieter than average jet. Maybe not silent, but very quiet.

Space planes? Well, it depends on how you define space.

Back to the TTR, the last time I camped there, it was incredibly quiet at night. No wind at all. I swear I could hear the base, like the sound of distant machinery.

reply to post by gariac


Thanks for the photo's Gariac, I think the TTR is often overlooked in favour of Groom. If it wasn't for people like you all us folks sitting here in chilly England wouldn't have a clue what these places looked like.

I think it's worth mentioning that to take these photographs massive effort is needed, not just getting to the vantage point but also in the skill required to take the shot using really long lenses (telescopes) exposure and production....v impressed and grateful!

Stars for you! :-)

Cheers

Robbie

(live close)
Skeleton crew----everyone of importance laid off.

reply to post by stratsys-sws


I know at least one person from chilly old England that has made the trip to the observation location for the TTR. [No hiking required, but you should rent a SUV.] The TTR really is quite busy for being in "caretaker status." They recently applied for permission to increase the size of their landfill. I have this theory, with no evidence to back it up, that perhaps some of the toxics at Groom Lake are now handled at the TTR The reasoning being the EPA now has the rights to sniff around Groom Lake, an outcome of Turley's lawsuit. If the EPA is going to sniff, perhaps it is better to let them examine the waste over at the TTR rather than Groom. At least that doesn't interrupt testing at Groom.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Sandia kicked out of the facility eventually. The DOE is dirt poor compared to the USAF. (OK, perhaps ignoring the 3+ billion for the National Ignition Facility). There has been noise made to move the Sandia function to other bases. I'm sure the USAF would love for the Sandia to be out of there so they can do more spook stuff.

Sandia and the USAF operate somewhat independently. They use different buses to bring workers to the base, though I don't know if they stage in different locations. When a few of us were on the hill near the gate to watch the F117s return to the TTR, we were met by both DOE and USAF (I think) security. The DOE guy was as pleasant as can be. ["You don't have to give up your name, but we would appreciate it.] The other security guy just went around recording license plate numbers and grumbling while doing so.

I came across a job ad for a guard at the TTR, but it will exceed the posting character limit. Here it is at alt.conspiracy.area51
Allied Barton
I would have posted the link to the job, but it is not really archived like usenet.

reply to post by gariac


Hi Gariac,

I'd love to make the trip, but I don't think the better half would be all that interested! :-)

As for the toxic waste issue, do you think that Groom still continues to handle toxics as part of the development program? I'd be really interested to know why they need to handle toxic substances (other than fuels, oils etc) surely the manufacture of coatings, explosives etc is conducted at another site, ie a lockheed, northrop, boeing facility? You many be correct that Groom is now shipping this to the TTR, but would the EPA not find it easier to snoop around the TTR?

Interesting comments about Sandia, where do you think they would relocate?

I love the job description, interesting that it highlights the need to protect nuclear weapons and the need to work underground!

Cheers again

Robbie

reply to post by stratsys-sws


The RAM material was toxic. I don't know if it is any different today. They may be trying new coatings and need the test gear at Groom. It may also be possible they are just moving old waste from Groom to the TTR since both areas are secure, but the odds of seeing something secret is less likely at the TTR.

There are documents on the net regarding moving Sandia. Google should dig them up.