Comments on: Flying Road

By: FakeGreenDress

FakeGreenDress — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 04:22:22 +0000

These images caught me by surprise — the plane’s just flown over where I used to work! It’s a sizable BBC production facility, home to Holby City NHS and Eastenders, and it’s where I took all my employee training classes.

It’s a building with quite a history, actually, even if it’s not much to look at from space… they filmed the Muppet Show and some of Star Wars there, and the offices I had my classes in were part of the Holby City set. It’s a hospital drama, so there were all these signs directing you to intensive care and whatnot, but they were all fake. You’d see all these people wandering around the cafeteria in scrubs, too, and they definitely weren’t real doctors.

By: Cory

Cory — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:39:28 +0000

Here’s where the duplicate piece of highway is:

Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

It starts just to the left of the dividing line on the bridge.

By: Al Cohole

Al Cohole — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:16:53 +0000

aaron,
this may apply to the larger version for manned aircraft, but I think unmanned planes could operate without a visible runway because they aren’t flown by “pilots” anyway.
Howewer, it could be possble that the runway is only made visible when an aircraft is approaching to land.

By: aaron

aaron — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:08:57 +0000

duh, Al Cohole, the runway is visible so the pilots can see it when they’re trying to land!

By: Timhogs

Timhogs — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 22:02:13 +0000

Or perhaps an access road to the nearby train tunnel? (Sorry, just spotted that).

By: Timhogs

Timhogs — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 21:55:16 +0000

Is it possible that the owners of the two McMansions have built themselves a highway to hell?

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 21:35:07 +0000

Gwaer, dammit you’re right - when I said “Bet you havenâ€™t seen one of them before” I was totally wrong…

By: Al Cohole

Al Cohole — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 21:20:24 +0000

Great find!

This is a prototype of a top-secret next-generation flying airbase developed within a joint venture between the United States and the UK. Basically, it’s an airship with a runway on it. The airship itself is coated with a special paint which automatically imitates the colour of the environment and uses stealth technologies. Thanks to this, it’s almost invisible. The only visible part of the surface is the runway (due to technical reasons), but there are plans to solve this problem in later versions. The whole aircraft is less than 400 ft long and about 100 ft wide, which is enough for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to operate.
There are actually two prototypes: This one (operated by the Royal Air Force) and another one in the US (operated by the USAF). The other airship is based somewhere in the Nellis Air Force Range, Nevada, and has a larger flight deck, which allows it to carry manned STOL aircraft like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Due to financial reasons, it is not likely that the project will be continued.

By: Gwaer

Gwaer — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 06:26:15 +0000

u failed the check… roll a reflex saving throw or the page will explode XD

However the plane is nearly to explode… or it’s the reflex of the sun?

By: Tggb3k

Tggb3k — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:01:57 +0000

Quick nobody mention the plane in flight over the wierd looking building just directly north!!

Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

Knowledge of html = -4 penalty on dex check. I rolled a 3.