Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 May 6

Miscellaneous desk
< May 5	<< Apr | May | Jun >>	May 7 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 6

What the heck is THAT?

Here is a Google Map view of the north end of Seattle-Tacoma airport. SEA has three runways; in the middle of the image (adjacent to the north end of 34R) is what looks like a swimming pool. It's the width of a runway -- 150 feet or so -- and if you zoom in close enough, you can see the joints in the concrete, so it's obviously neither a pool nor the roof of a building.

So, what the heck IS it?

--DaHorsesMouth (talk) 23:48, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

Dunno, but it wasnt there in May 2004 according to Google Earth. I reckon it could function as a median for traffic. Benyoch ^{...Don't panic! Don't panic!...} (talk) 01:07, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Agreed. I'd guess they painted it a different color as a sign to taxiing planes to go around it (to avoid collisions). StuRat (talk) 04:21, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

If you look carefully at the markings, it's a paved median between taxiways "C" (serving all three runways) and "D" (serving only runways 16L and 16C). Why it's paved rather than grass, I don't know. --Carnildo (talk) 05:19, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Roof of a bomb shelter, foundations for a public lavatory? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.211.154.241 (talk) 06:53, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

It appears to be painted on the concrete. Perhaps the area was originally part of the taxiway, but later was changed to a non-taxi area. Instead of chomping up the concrete to put in grass like the median below, they just painted it. Why that color I don't have a clue.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 08:29, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm not an expert but some googling finds a Standard for Airport Markings which says:

Although it is preferable for the inner portion of NO-TAXI islands to be unpaved, for example, grass covered, the inner area may be painted green or painted with striated yellow markings [...]

Green with yellow stripes seems to match the aerial image. Apparently green is simply the standard for no-go areas, due to them usually being grass. That's a pretty weird green; maybe they preferred high visibility to the natural look. 88.114.124.228 (talk) 12:24, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

As to why they chose to paint it rather than remove the concrete, it's probably quicker this way (assuming they use quick-drying paint), so they can put the runway right back into service. It also provides flexibility, should they need to drive over that area for some reason (like to dodge another errant plane). StuRat (talk) 04:30, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

Y'know, I've heard that it rains a bit in Seattle, maybe this reduces the amount of mowing required!

Resolved

 – That a keeper, thanks!

--DaHorsesMouth (talk) 02:19, 8 May 2012 (UTC)