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Secretive military sites
Military bases are located all around the US, and even the world. While many of these are easily accessible and can be found with a simple online search, some military sites remain very secretive to this day. According to list verse, many of these secret sites are located well behind barbed-wire fencing or deep underground. It’s tough to locate these bases, and it’s nearly impossible to find out what these locations are used for.
If an aircraft had to make emergency landing and the only closest runway is at Area 51 or at another secret site, would they allow it to land?
F/A-18 emergency landing at a secret base as sensitive as Area 51
Kelly Williams, former US Navy F/A-18 pilot, recalls on Quora;
‘I was in an F-18 and we were told to avoid Area 51 and the other secret base out there in the Nevada desert like the plague. I had heard all of the stories of the B-52s and others that merely broke into the prohibited airspace around the storied base during Red Flag exercises. Supposedly the debrief by guys in the unmarked blue sedans that met the planes upon landing back at Nellis could take days and then we’d never see them again as they were unceremoniously sent home afterward.
‘So there I was, flying around out in the working area one fine day when I get a Hydraulic Hot Caution in my right engine. Now a Hyd Hot Caution is a land immediately emergency because it can quickly develop into a fire. The closest runway for me was the other secret base out there, which I won’t name, and it was just as sensitive as Area 51 about unbriefed interlopers breaking their airspace. I didn’t hesitate to head straight there to land.
‘Turns out the stories were correct, the debrief did take a couple of days and was a real pain in the ass. I ended up having to leave the jet there and come back with a repair crew the next week to retrieve it. Getting clearance onto the base for the repair crew was another pain in the ass. But the plane flew home intact and it beat the alternative.’
Airliner emergency landing at a secret base
What about if an airliner needed to make an emergency landing at Area 51?
Williams explains;
‘It is very unlikely that an airliner would ever be closer to Area 51 than another suitable runway because it is in the middle of a bunch of test ranges but if I was flying an airliner and needed to set it down right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to use that long runway out in the middle of the Nevada desert, and I wouldn’t ask for permission.’
Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps
