Departure
88%
vs 95% ▼ 7
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Homey Airport, universally known by its unofficial name Area 51, lies at Groom Lake in the remote Nevada desert and is one of the most secretive military airfields in the world. It boasts two enormous runways built for classified flight-test work, but it remains completely closed to civilian aviation and appears on simulator platforms largely as a curiosity rather than a genuine VFR destination.
Homey Airport sits on the dry bed of Groom Lake in the Nevada desert and is operated by the United States Air Force as part of a classified flight-test facility. It is far better known by its popular name, Area 51, and has long been associated with the development and testing of secret military aircraft. For the simulator pilot it is a field of pure curiosity: the runways are amongst the longest in the world, built to support experimental and high-performance types, but the site itself is entirely off-limits to civil traffic in reality.
The airfield lies within a remote, restricted military area of the Nevada desert at Groom Lake, well away from any public roads or towns of significance. The surrounding airspace is closed to civilian flight, and there is no public means of entry, joining, or transit for VFR or IFR traffic. It should be regarded by simulator pilots as an area to observe from depicted scenery rather than a field that could realistically be flown to.
There are two parallel physical runways aligned 15/33. The longer, runway 15R/33L, is a hard-surfaced strip measuring 18,095 feet and is unlit. The shorter, runway 15L/33R, is also hard-surfaced, measures 11,985 feet, and is lit. Field elevation is 4,462 feet, and there is no ILS.
No communications frequencies are published for Homey Airport, and there is no known air-ground or air traffic control service available to civilian pilots. No navaids or instrument approach procedures are published for the field.
The site has been known by a number of names over the years, including Dreamland, Paradise Ranch, Home Base, and Watertown Strip, reflecting its long use as a covert test and evaluation facility. It is inseparably linked in popular culture with Area 51, the informal name for the wider restricted range surrounding Groom Lake.
Homey Airport remains an active but entirely classified military facility, used for flight-test operations by the United States Air Force. There is no civilian access, no public fuel, and no facilities available to visiting pilots; the airfield cannot be flown to under normal VFR or IFR planning. In flight simulation it is chiefly of interest as a piece of aviation folklore and as scenery to view rather than a field with any real operational procedures to follow.