Message posted by Desert Dragon on July 26, 2007 at 13:03:14 PST:
I've had a long hard look at the photo of the strange marks and come up with the following conclusions: Whatever is making the marks lives in that hangar at the bottom on the picture. Whatever lives in the hangar is so wide it cannot be turned around inside any more hence the new turning at the other end. Whatever leaves the marks only does so when a certain component is voluntarily activated. There are only marks left in specific areas, not on the way to the "test" area. The fact the test area has its own turning circle suggests that the tests are testing something ground handling related. The black to me looks like tyre(tire) marks from skidding. Part of the these tests appear to be turning the vehicle round in a complete circle, you would not get a complete circle of black if that loop was just being used to turn the vehicle around to face the other direction, anyway it must be able to turn around on the taxiway as there are no turning loops at either end. The yellow is obviously something which leaks and rubs off during the tests, again its only visible in the areas where they're doing the actual testing. My guess is its some form of lubricant or hydraulic oil which leaks out during extreme testing. My simple guess is that this area is where they test anti-skid/anti-lock braking systems on under-carriages.
In Reply to: Re: Strange marks on old center taxiway posted by Will(NorCal) on July 26, 2007 at 12:28:07 PST:
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