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Middle of nowhere with a runway: Midway Atoll.

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  • Middle of nowhere with a runway: Midway Atoll.


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    I sense a new monthly feature.

    A look at Midway Island (Atoll). Midway is an atoll that is located almost halfway between North American and Asia. It was once a strategic base during World War II and is famous for the Battle of Midway which was fought on June 4, 1942. It later became a part of the US early warning system during the cold war.

    The island is now in the hands of the US Department of the Interior. Civilians could visit the atoll from 1996 to 2003. Tours should start up again in 2008.

    Henderson Field: IATA: MDY, ICAO: PMDY, is 7,904 x 200 ft (2,409 x 61 m) and is asphalt. The runway is closed to public transport.

    Wiki on Midway
    Planes at Midway
    Midwayisland.com photo bank
    My Flickr Pictures! Click Me!

  • #2
    Wow, one could walk from the airport to that wide beach on the opposite side of the island. But there's not much room for anything like a resort.
    Follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/flyingphotog

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    • #3
      Small airport, but incredibly important for ETOPS operations. Being the only runway capable of handling widebodies within a large area, without it many, many twins would be forced to fly a more northerly or southerly routing, thereby increasing travel time. IIRC, there were plans to close down MDY last year, but protests from airlines from all over Asia and North America quickly shot that proposal down.

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      • #4
        It's a nature reserve so you can't build on it. It used to have a Pan Am hotel back in the day when they flew the flying boats.
        My Flickr Pictures! Click Me!

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        • #5
          The layout shows a tribute to ingenuity in how to get a lot from so few space.
          Quite a few interesting clients such as Avistar 707 and Kingdom 727 along with the ferry flights used to or still call at MDY. Good to read the treehuggers ended up with a setback.
          Thanks for visiting
          *Avimage's Monthly Slide list *
          *JetPhotos*
          Airliners*Pbase.com

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          • #6
            Not quite so remote as Midway...but probably the Atlantic Ocean's version of Midway....

            ....Bermuda.

            I belive it is said that transatlantic flights to Bermuda either get in.....or die !

            If it 'ain't broken........ Don't try to mend it !

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            • #7
              Complete aeronautical information about Henderson Field Airport (Midway Atoll, US Minor Islands), including location, runways, taxiways, navaids, radio frequencies, FBO information, fuel prices, sunrise and sunset times, aerial photo, airport diagram.


              Some stats on the airfield there.

              It's a US National Wildlife Refuge. Sure would love to go there someday. Though you have to provide your own transportation to get there as there are no visitor facilities and no scheduled flights there.

              -Chris

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              • #8
                A bump for the Ad.comers
                My Flickr Pictures! Click Me!

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                • #9
                  Yeah, No one but the Dept of the Interior goes in there anymore. Is only open to outsiders in a emergency. The biggest problem there is the the Gooney Birds(wanna say real name is Albatross), in anycase this(Midway) is one of two or three places in the world the birds are left. They use Midway as their winter home. They litterly cover the island when they are there. When we would be ready to taxi for take-off we'd have a follow-me truck drive in front of the airplane to clear the taxi way of the birds. then the truck would make a pass down the runway to clear it of birds so we could take off. LOTs of history there. Though it is very small, didn't take long at all to walk the island.
                  -Not an Airbus or Boeing guy here.
                  -20 year veteran on the USN Lockheed P-3 Orion.

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                  • #10
                    P3 - Did you ever do business with Johnston Atoll? I looks like it was built as just an airstrip...nothing but a runway.
                    My Flickr Pictures! Click Me!

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Cam
                      P3 - Did you ever do business with Johnston Atoll? I looks like it was built as just an airstrip...nothing but a runway.
                      Johnston Atoll was once a nuclear test site which included the launching of first Redstone and later Thor missiles for high altitude nuclear tests. Also some B-52 airdrop tests were conducted off of Johnston Atoll.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by B757300
                        Also some B-52 airdrop tests were conducted off of Johnston Atoll.
                        That would take one hell of an aircraft to airdrop a B-52?

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Sabre
                          That would take one hell of an aircraft to airdrop a B-52?
                          LOL! Smart-aleck

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Cam
                            P3 - Did you ever do business with Johnston Atoll? I looks like it was built as just an airstrip...nothing but a runway.
                            Stopped there once for gas, but that's it. They completely leveled the place after it was shut down.
                            -Not an Airbus or Boeing guy here.
                            -20 year veteran on the USN Lockheed P-3 Orion.

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                            • #15
                              Out of the way airports I've landed at. Number 1 should be easy for any student of WWII.



                              Number 2 is so far out, the FAA waives the requirement to have an alternate, you just take an extra 2 hours fuel. The airport is on the north shore of the island.



                              The island for three didn't have any room for a runway so they built up a bunch of fill. The runway is on the north shore again.



                              Google needs a better shoot of number 4. Right at the seam of the pictures on the bottom part of the island you can see east end of the runway. It goes back west to where there is a little bend in the island. I need to scan some old film pictures, all you see lining up on the runway is water, runway, road, water.

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