Area 51 Now Named Homey Airport

Now this is weird, even for Area 51. Apparently the main airstrip has been renamed "Homey Airport." To make it more, well, homey, I guess.

Here's the article, from Wired.com.

Some of the most interesting excerpts:

Area 51 has a name and it's called Homey, as in Homey Airport. The newsletter of the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association has noted that the mysterious Area 51 "has been appearing in flight-planning software and on handheld GPS receivers for most of the past year as KXTA (standing for what, extraterrestrial?).

...

The Jeppesen FliteStar flight-planning program and AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner even identify it as Homey Airport and add, “Private, VFR, No Fee, Customs Info Unavailable.” Well, there’s a fee. The airport is deep within heavily restricted airspace, guarded by fighter jets. First come the legal fees, the probable confiscation of your aircraft, and a personal fee in the form of jail time."

[edit on 19-1-2008 by gottago]

www.abovetopsecret.com...
As posted in ATC. I put a few more links in the comments section to the Wired article.

I liked that bit about people arguing if John Lear was talking to the tower. It's not that hard to find the frequency, so of course he was talking to the tower. However, it is like talking to the dead. You can talk, but do they reply?

I have heard on two occasions pilots accidentally talking to Groom Tower. I suspect they park a radio on Groom Tower to listen in on the base, then when they go to use the transmitter, then forget to change the frequency.

As an FYI, you can find the XTA Homey listed in this PDF
www.sandel.com...
Go to page 272.

The Janets use a ST3400, as shown here
www.lazygranch.com...