Nevada's Groom Lake Is Homey Airport

Pilots beware! Your GPS contains the airport identifier and location of Groom Lake -- where they keep the space aliens at Area 51, in Nevada -- and it's one airport you don't want to fly into.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) recently noted the information has been in flight-planning software and on handheld GPS receivers for most of the past year as KXTA (meaning what, Extraterrestrial?).

"We already know and it doesn't matter," said a public affairs official at Nellis Air Force Base.

The Jeppesen FliteStar flight-planning program and AOPA's Real-Time Flight Planner identify KXTA as Homey Airport and add, "Private, VFR, No Fee, Customs Info Unavailable."

Well, there is a fee. The airport is deep within heavily restricted airspace, guarded by fighters. After receiving a fighter escort, an erring pilot would likely face confiscation of his airplane, major legal fees and probably a personal fee of jail time.

Photos of the area have been publicly available since the late 1980's, and a picture of Groom Lake has been on Google Earth for years. The latest time stamps show it was updated in 2007.

Photos show two major runways -- Runway 14/32, 12,000 feet by 200 feet, and Runway 12/30, 5420 feet by 120 feet. An additional 11,000 feet of Runway 14/32 extends into the dry lakebed, although that portion is closed and partially covered by sand. Four additional runways are marked in the sand of the lakebed.

The Clinton Administration only admitted to the existence of Groom Lake in 1994 when workers claimed their health was harmed by working there. Such admission of the area's existence became necessary to handle the case in court, and to protect its security in the future.

The Groom Lake facility has reportedly been host to many "Black" projects, beginning in 1955 with the U-2, on to the SR-71, the F-117 and others. It has been known by different monikers over the years, including Paradise Ranch and Watertown, before becoming "Area 51" of the Nevada Test Site.

Perhaps the military pilots who fly out of KXTA find it to be a Homey Airport, but all others are cautioned to avoid it.

Zipping through for a quick peek at Homey's aliens would likely bring an abrupt end to your flying career, but it is a good reminder to know and check what we've entered into our GPS.

Students especially need to understand and avoid such restricted airspace - that's one phone call the instructor definitely doesn't want to get!

FMI: www.aopa.org