Hello you. 

I am hitting you with KXTA - Homey Airport - Area 51 - Groom Lake - Paradise Ranch - The Remote Location - The Box - erm, and a few others. Maybe you have your own name for it too. For me it's simply where I was created by Operation Paperclip types. 

Once upon a time I trundled past here on the Extraterrestrial Highway but didn't realise I was at the Black Mailbox whilst I was having a slash, mainly because it's not there any more, probably because of people like me. I did not see anything interesting in the sky. 

Being somewhat thick, when I embarked on this a few weeks back I thought 'great. I can make it all up. No need to spend hours dribbling at satellite photos.' Then I realised this is of course one of the most studied airfields in the entire world. 

I've done my best to replicate it by consulting all the various sites and maps out there. There was a surpisingly small amount of guessing required. If you don't hear from me again you'll know I got it righter than I should have. 

A humongous amount of ground textures have been changed. Not too far off every single building has been replaced. I've added proper ATC with ATIS. The second super long runway has been made inactive. The four salt flat runways have been added, though I dunno if anyone will want to use them. 

There's a new taxi system that allows you start in your favourite hangar, and we all have one. Fuel truck and push back is available at most, but the only spaces with a full set of ground services are on the Janet ramp - numbers 1, 30, 31 and 32. 

The runway lights are rather miserly because of course they only turn them on when you're expected and you certainly ain't. You should be using your NVGs anyway. 

This is heaving with so many models your computer may twat you, but it seems to run OK on my relatively modest machine. We have even gone all American with the vehicles. 

Big up to Skell300 for making the mysterious triangular tower, and TimmyL who modelled pretty much the whole of the facility for Google Earth which I made liberal use of. 

One irritating issue I can't solve is that ATC will only send you to start on runway 33 no matter what. The stock airport seems to do this too. Dunno why. 

Let me know if I've made any hideous mistakes. Don't tell Them about this. 

V 1.4

Sorts out the inverted runway starts. 

Adds another helicopter parking spot, number 104, to the west out in the boonies as it's always nice to get out and about. 

Improves some models, replaces others. 

The C5's loading bay is now a solid surface so you and your loved ones can now taxi into it and take off in the comfort of your own home. You will need a tiddler though.