Originally posted by bigsage
if you pay taxes and not some fresh to america person, not that if you are you havent been taken advantage of for america to recieve the wealth it has; and had to make an emergency landing on a base run by our government paid for with tax dollars and human lives then you better be able to land there and have a steak ready for you when you exit the plane....

Just cant just walk up to the White House, why should you be allowed to go there?

Think about it. Your tax might pay for a police car but that doesnt mean you can jump in one and take it for a drive whenever you like, does it?

Good point on the cop car Delta...

Now, if you take the same situation, only instead of Area 51 where they have to land, say it's the runway with Airforce 1 ready to take off with the President on board....do you think the government would allow a commercial Jet liner to land on the same runway that Airforce 1 is preparing to leave on??? Being that there is a "no-fly zone" around it....??? Speculations??

Commercial Jets and small personal jets cannot even land at a regular Air Force Base, must less something like Area 51, all AF bases are no fly zones, and will be immediatly met with an F-16 on each wing if they decide do test it

it does sound highly unlikely that a small private plane would happen to find itself directly over restricted airspace without a warning. Although if they maydayed and Area 51 picked up there call then they might have been directed there.

i bin tinkin about that thar "area 51" an I bin tinkin maybe it mite jes be anudder one-a-dose what ya call
"distrackshuns" to keep peeple lookin in der rong direckshun or tinkin about pointless meanserings so day dont notice they be missin sumpin...
I were jes tinkin...

First of all, Area 51 is so far out in middle of nowhere, and specifically far away from any normal commercial traffic lanes, the prospect of an airliner being close enough to Area 51 to rate an emergency landing is virtually nill.

I agree with dragonrider on this account. However, I did witness a black helicopter land at a small private airport. There were two of them and smoke was coming out of the back of one. When it landed within a few minutes white vans showed up. No one was allowed anywhere near the private airport. They didn't even care if you had a private plane housed there. A large huey military copter flew in the next day evidently to bring a part for the black helicopter. They blocked all entrances and exits to this little private airport and basically took over it, until the repair was made. Than they all left.

A couple of years back there was a caller on the Art Bell show that was supposedly calling from a small home built plane kit. He said that he was going to fly into A51. He said that he had a small antenna trailing out the back of the plane and that way his cell phone transmission could be received. Anyway, he said that he had painted red crosses on the side of his plane thinking that if he were intercepted by any defensive aircraft they wouldn't shoot him down. He had also rigged his radio so that it wouldn't work so he would have an excuse not to communicate with the base when it warned him to get out of the area. So, he tells Art Bell that he is crossing into the no fly zone over A51. Almost immediately, he said that he could see the base and that some huge flood lights had come on and pointed in the direction of his aircraft. He kept telling Art that he didn't care what happened to him and that he was a citizen of the US and that he was a taxpayer and he had a right to see what was happening at the base(you really have no say as to what happens at the base as it is funded by a black budget, not your tax dollars). Anyway, he then tells Art that he sees 2 F-16's being scrambled to intercept him. They finally reach him and you can hear him telling him he has no radio motioning to his cockpit. Anyway, he tells Art that the F16 pilot is rocking his wings at him and motioning him to land...he tells Art that he is playing stupid and and doesn't know what the F16 pilot is trying to say to him. So, after a few minutes he says the F16's break off from him and now he can supposedly see some type of rail/ray gun coming up from the groom lake bed..he starts getting excited and saying "oh god, they are going to shoot me down....nooooooo..ahhhhgggggkkk"...then the transmission is stopped. Art Bell was at a loss for words...I personally thought it was pretty funny because if it were true that guy deserved to be zapped from the gene pool for being so stupid. But, if it were true.......we now have a small bit of insight to the workings of A51.

Did anyone else hear this broadcast?? Any thoughts??

Sounds like crap to me.

I have always pondered that question. What about a small private plane? I guess that it would get shot down and covered up.

[Edited on 22-10-2003 by jrod]

I believe a commercial airliner would be diverted to say Reno or Las Vegas as long as it was not in iminent danger.

They would only allow them to land if they are carrying aliens.

right then...so we seem to have stuck on this certain subject(despite it's waining effect on us all i must add).
in a worst case scenario, there wouldn't be any particular need for force against one of the most impenetrable fortresses in the u.s, a simple yet reliable method of penetrating the base would be adequate..a 1 man job, if u catch the hint.
the perils are outstanding, but with the appropriate blueprints this mission could prove possible for your average john doe' to handle.
and i suppose no1's even heard of the attempt at area 51's system only two weeks' ago....by, a ukranian, around a similar time to the half-life 2 incident
in any case i am hoping some1 can get some better footage.
cordially
Cyrus.

If an airliner or light aircraft was in difficulty and Area 51 was the only ditch hope then I am absolutely sure they would be allowed to land - and I guess escorted to a discreet area of the compound before disembarkation.

No one is going to shoot an aircraft down that easily - it has to be clasified as a "Clear and Present Danger" to the facility first - and I believe such anorder would probably require presidential approval - as did the case when Payne Stewarts Jet was in difficulty. For the recoed such a matter is not only covered by US juristiction but international law and the US cannot take preemptory action.

In real life a similar incident did occur in the UK a number of years ago - an aircraft made a landing at a military base in the UK - by mistake - not forced - and the result - pilots censured by the CAA and the plane shipped out by road (couldnt actually get the plane off the ground due to runway length)

Whilst i agree there may be some top secret stuff at Area 51 - I have been lucky enought to visit some so called secret bases - and you are generally well sheparded during your visit and are unlikely to see anything.

My father flew a commercial private jet for a wealthy man here in oklahoma city. One time they were out flying and his co-pilot thought that they would take a shortcut, and fly over the corner of white sands AF base.

They were immediatly intercepted by two jets and were escorted out of the white sands airspace.

Originally posted by TheSwordMaster
Would it be allowed to land there?
or would they just deny it being there and say dont land here etc.. what do you think.
could they land or not?

Interesting scenario... unfortunately I've got to take the logical route with this;
I think A51 is 25-30 miles inside restricted airspace and is way off from any legitimate commercial flight paths.

There are other airports closer to the designated commercial jet (passenger jets, UPS, Fed Ex, etc..) flight paths... therefore, if he is close to A51 it is reasonable that he is up to no good and would certainly be escorted out of the area and directed to land anywhere including the highway... OR get an AIM (missile) up his warmest turbofan.




[Edited on 26-1-2004 by intelgurl]

This is what would happen

First when the pilot radios the mayday into the groom tower they would scramble two F15's to act as an escort

They would then pull all top secret stuff into hangers and make sure nothing was on view of the civilians

When the plane lands they would sweep it for bugs and transmitting devices before the passengers would be allowed to exit the plane

They would then be escorted to a secure location and de-briefed on what to say to faa officials and so on

They would then be allowed to fly out of the base (after a little help from the air force to get their plane fixed) under fighter escort

Quite a few years ago I was aboard a private aircraft with two commercial pilots (ex-military pilots) one who owned the aircraft & was giving me a flying lesson. We were on the border of the base which is clearly marked on the map we carried onboard. The instructor reminded me I was getting close to the line (we were flying parallel more than a 1/4 mile away). I thought he was being a little picky with me. Then out of the blue someone came on the radio and reminded us to steer clear of the area, the instructor radioed back (that we understand) and of course we complied. So, yes they will talk to you before they send someone to intercept you.

The instructor also told me of stories of pilots being intercepted & losing their license.

I don't think we did anything wrong & I believe they remind everyone who gets close just to make sure they don't have to deal with you or for people who can't read a map.

As far as allowing you to land if your in an extreme emergency, I suppose it depends on what's going on there at the time, who you are, how you identify yourself & how well you follow their instructions.


[Edited on 3-2-2004 by outsider]

i'm a pilot, first off... but i know at what you call "normal" bases you can do low approaches. i've done that myself at selfridge ang base near port huron, mi... also, you can land in case of an emergency, but chances are your plane will be dismantled or confiscated. also, you'd probably lose your lisence. someone suggested they'd give you fighter esort on the way out? that, definitely wouldn't happen...

and you actually can fly through restricted areas if you get clearance first. i've done that before near grayling, michigan. i doubt that would happen for area 51 though, since there's no doubt always something going on...

There are dozens of dry lake beds in this part of Nevada and California that an airliner could land. On public lands.

WolfOfWar nailed it. This has been mentioned in aviation magazines many times.

If anyone has a Las Vegas sectional, they could scan it post it here. Area 51 is in the Middle of the vast Nellis AFB bombing range. It has to be deep in restricted airspace, military aircraft screeching around at 100 feet off the deck, no place for a pokey little putt-putt airplane.