Britain's longest aircraft runway ?
Discussion
Not long ago I met a recently retired senior RAF officer, whose last job had included responsibility for keeping a handful of very long runways in good condition 'in case the Space Shuttle ever needed them'.
He wasn't joking either - apparently the MoD had an agreement with the Americans on such matters.
OK, question ? Which are Britain's longest runways, and how long are they ? I'm guessing that this explains why otherwise-redundant runways like those at Bruntingthorpe, Alconbury Hill, and that 'secret' one at Machrihanish in Scotland are kept in such good condition ? Or are we talking about Fairford, perhaps ?
He wasn't joking either - apparently the MoD had an agreement with the Americans on such matters.
OK, question ? Which are Britain's longest runways, and how long are they ? I'm guessing that this explains why otherwise-redundant runways like those at Bruntingthorpe, Alconbury Hill, and that 'secret' one at Machrihanish in Scotland are kept in such good condition ? Or are we talking about Fairford, perhaps ?
Machrihanish was sold last month for £1...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).
Edited by tvrolet on Wednesday 6th June 15:39
wikkipedia said:
RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK. As well as having a sufficiently long runway for a shuttle landing (the runway is 3,046 m (9,993 ft) long), it also had NASA-trained fire and medical crews stationed on the airfield.
tvrolet said:
Machrihanish was sold last month for £1...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).
I've flown in there on a turboprop from Glasgow....I doubt we used a tenth of the runway! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).
Edited by tvrolet on Wednesday 6th June 15:39
Nothing to do with the OP's question but Banjul airpot in The Gambia used to be a shuttle landing site, according to Wiki it's 3600m.
petemurphy said:
pretty sure the runway hammond crashed in york on is a shuttle emergency one. i should know the name seeing as my uncle owns the farm next to it!
edited to say 3000 metres and its elvington airfieldhttp://www.elvingtonairfield.co.uk/
Cheib said:
tvrolet said:
Machrihanish was sold last month for £1...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).
I've flown in there on a turboprop from Glasgow....I doubt we used a tenth of the runway! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west...
oh, and the runway is 3,049 m (10,003 ft) long, and was certified to accept the shuttle (so says Wiki).
Edited by tvrolet on Wednesday 6th June 15:39
Nothing to do with the OP's question but Banjul airpot in The Gambia used to be a shuttle landing site, according to Wiki it's 3600m.
If you landed a shuttle there it really must be an emergency. NASA said:
3. EMERGENCY LANDING SITES:
Amberley, Australia
Amilear Cabral, Cape Berde
Arlanda, Sweden
Darwin, Australia
Dyess AFB, TX (1)
Ellsworth AFB, SD (1),(3)
Esenboga, Turkey
Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), Canary Islands
Grant County (Moses Lake), WA (3)
Hao, French Polynesia
Hoedspruit, South Africa
King Khalid, Saudi Arabia
Kinshasa, Zaire
Koln/ Bonn, Germany
Lajes Field, Azores (1),(6)
Lincoln Municipal, NE (3)
Mountain Home AFB, ID (1), (3)
Nassau, Bahamas (2)
NSA Souda Bay, Crete (1),(6)
NSF Diego Garcia, Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean (1)
Orlando IAP, FL
RAF Fairford, United Kingdom (1),(4)
Roberts International (Monrovia), Liberia
Tamanrassett, Algeria
Fairford is the only UK emergency landing site I can find listedAmberley, Australia
Amilear Cabral, Cape Berde
Arlanda, Sweden
Darwin, Australia
Dyess AFB, TX (1)
Ellsworth AFB, SD (1),(3)
Esenboga, Turkey
Gran Canaria (Las Palmas), Canary Islands
Grant County (Moses Lake), WA (3)
Hao, French Polynesia
Hoedspruit, South Africa
King Khalid, Saudi Arabia
Kinshasa, Zaire
Koln/ Bonn, Germany
Lajes Field, Azores (1),(6)
Lincoln Municipal, NE (3)
Mountain Home AFB, ID (1), (3)
Nassau, Bahamas (2)
NSA Souda Bay, Crete (1),(6)
NSF Diego Garcia, Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean (1)
Orlando IAP, FL
RAF Fairford, United Kingdom (1),(4)
Roberts International (Monrovia), Liberia
Tamanrassett, Algeria
The runway at Elvington is over 2 miles long and it was held on care and maintenance as an emergency landing area for the Space Shuttle if ever such an emergency developed
http://www.largemodelassociation.com/elvington_201...
http://www.largemodelassociation.com/elvington_201...
The Shuttle had dozens of emergency landing sites all over the world. These sites varied depending on the nature of the mission and the orbital inclination that was needed for each mission.
Most missions prior to the building of the ISS and ISS supply missions had orbital planes closer to the equator and as a result none of the UK or Northern European runways would have been within gliding range of the Shuttle.
The ISS has a 51% degree inclination to the equator so missions to the ISS meant that the Shuttle was in range of Northern European and British runways.
Columbia was too heavy to be put on high inclination orbits so was never used on ISS missions and could never have landed in the UK.
In the original plan, Shuttles would have flown 90% Pole to Pole flights, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This means that any airfield on the planet with a long enough runway was a potentlial landing runway for these polar missions.
After Challenger was destroyed, all plans to use Vandenberg were cancelled and no polar orbital flights were ever undertaken.
Most missions prior to the building of the ISS and ISS supply missions had orbital planes closer to the equator and as a result none of the UK or Northern European runways would have been within gliding range of the Shuttle.
The ISS has a 51% degree inclination to the equator so missions to the ISS meant that the Shuttle was in range of Northern European and British runways.
Columbia was too heavy to be put on high inclination orbits so was never used on ISS missions and could never have landed in the UK.
In the original plan, Shuttles would have flown 90% Pole to Pole flights, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This means that any airfield on the planet with a long enough runway was a potentlial landing runway for these polar missions.
After Challenger was destroyed, all plans to use Vandenberg were cancelled and no polar orbital flights were ever undertaken.
E31Shrew said:
Manston, where I spent many happy hours asleep, was / is 2750 metres. Again it was at one time put forward as an emergency runway for the space shuttle.
Current emergency plans exist for Manston because they are big enough and local to receive Jumbos that can't land at Gatwick/Heathrow IIRC. Anyone living in Ramsgate is well aware of the big Russian freight jets that loom in the skies from time to time.
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