Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!seismo!sundc!hadron!klr
From: klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: shuttle landing sites
Message-ID: <796@hadron.UUCP>
Date: 31 Oct 88 14:51:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: hadron.796
References: <2137@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu> <5590@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> <794@hadron.UUCP> <7225@dasys1.UUCP>
Reply-To: klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler)
Organization: Hadron, Inc., Fairfax, VA
Lines: 29

In article <7225@dasys1.UUCP> axelson@dasys1.UUCP (Kevin Axelson) writes:
>In article <794@hadron.UUCP>, klr@hadron.UUCP (Kurt L. Reisler) writes:
>>
>> ... I have heard tales that Dullas is large enough (long enough in
>> the runway department) to serve as an emergency landing site.  However,
>> the location is wrong.
>
>And a commercial jetliner crashed in the hills just to the west of
>the airport a few years back.  Geography is a problem.   

Actually, the crash site near Mt Weather is quite a bit west of IAD.
But you are correct that the proximity of the Shenendoah Mountains would
present a problem.  I also think the landed gentry in the surrounding
countryside might object as well :-)

>Actually, stretches of the adjoining interstate are so straight that
>they might do the trick.  A lot of the drivers seem to be doing Mach 1, too.

But, give the psychological profile of the average driver in the greater
DC area, I rather doubt that the average drive would yield to an
approaching space shuttle :-)

>Seriously, I'd have thought that a lot of military airstrips would be 
>better candidates than commercial airports.  Is this a misconception?

Well, I would guess that on average a military airstrip is built to
allow for the relatively STOL characteristics of most of their
inventory.  But, does can anyone compare the take-off and landing
profiles of a C5A with the shuttle?