Why There’s a Massive Runway in the Middle of Florida’s Swamplands

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Video written by Corinne Neustadter and Ben Doyle
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[@Fail.Better]

As person raised in Florida, I found myself asking "but why would they build X in the middle of an inhospitable jungle?" almost daily.

[@patrickmanasco8772]

Relatable especially spending so much time around Naples and Miami

[@jakenh8264]

Cough cough Disney cough cough

[@not_an_arg_]

Because it's Florida

[@jorceshaman]

@@jakenh8264 Cheap land and running their own city.

[@99certain45]

When you get rid of the inhospitable jungle, and you spray the mosquitoes with enough cancer causing chemicals, Florida is actually one of the most comfortable places in America.

[@nicolasrios5736]

I’m a commercial pilot (in progress) here in Florida and I remember going to this airport once while trining as a Private Pilot. It is so in the middle of nowhere that I passed by a turtle taking a sunbath in the middle of the taxiway while exiting the runway

[@christopherbazaka1564]

thats so cool, what airline do you fly for?

[@aiz3n0]

@whaaa t bruh

[@marywegrzyn506]

Awwww, how cool was that that you got to experience that?! Something you will never forget !!!

[@nicolasrios5736]

@@christopherbazaka1564 actually I’m just about to finish my commercial pilot training 😅

[@derrickstorm6976]

What a weird example, "there was an animal on the runway so it must be a really remote area"

[@jerry3790]

Despite not having the biggest airport, Florida still has the honour of one of the worlds longest runways, used to land the space shuttle. Despite being nearly 5km long, many astronauts have still complained about it being too short, which is understandable when you have to land from space while initially going almost 8km/s

[@hitenshah821]

Yes jerry. Thank you for that nugget of wisdom

[@Raptor747]

And also when the words "go around" are likely to evoke thoughts of going around the globe before re-entering the atmosphere...

[@maxdona2452]

Also, the space shuttle was a flying brick with insanely high landing speed, so they couldn't slow down too much before touch down

[@zaphod4245]

The vast majority of the 8km/s was bled off as it descended due to air resistance and re-entry, so that isn't really relevant. But most planes a) have large wings and are relatively light, so can land at relatively slow speeds, and b) use reverse thrust to slow themselves when they land, to assist the brakes to stop quickly. The space shuttle with all of it's ceramic heat shielding, was very heavy, and had small wings so as not to cause too much drag during launch, so had to fly at a much higher speed to maintain enough lift, meaning a higher approach speed. Plus, it's lack of any thrust when landing meant that the only things it had were its brakes and parachute, which aren't nearly as effective as reverse thrust. Hence the need for a very long runway. But there are long runways around the world for the space shuttle, which it never even used, while Cape Canaveral was almost always the planned landing site, should there be some problem, and the space shuttle goes off course, it could need to land anywhere, and with no engines it couldn't just glide all the way back to florida. Some examples of alternate landing sites include RAF Fairford in the UK, Bermuda airport (formerly an Air base), Diego Garcia and Edwards AFB.

[@maxdona2452]

@@zaphod4245 yes, it's was basically the world worst glider when in re-entry phase xD I seem to remember more runways than that, with other countries cooperation (France come to mind), am I wrong ?

[@v1_rotate638]

As a corporate pilot, I fly over this airport going all the time and I’ve always wondered why it’s there but I’ve always used it as my emergency landing plan if we need to land over the swamp lands out there. I appreciate its existence

[@katiesiouxlamoureaux7757]

Well at least it wasn't a waste

[@dieseldragon6756]

Thinking about the size of the Florida swamplands (Which have more area than my entire _country_ 🇬🇧) having a usable runway in the middle of it makes a lot of sense for emergency purposes, even if there's no possibility of a scheduled passenger service... ✈⚠👍

[@cooltwittertag]

​@@dieseldragon6756the florida wetlands are 1/40th of the size of the uk

[@bertblue9683]

As a = douchebag

[@BronxBastard730]

"I fly over thos airport GOING all the time" Are you sure you're really a pilot and not an illiterate keyboard warrior?

[@ericrudd]

I’m amazed that I happened to stumble across this video. My father, James Rudd, was ATC tower chief at this airport in the mid-70’s. I was in fifth grade at the time. He and I would go out here to go fishing together. He would often come home in the evening to share, “Found an alligator next to the tower today,” or, “Saw a bobcat on the runway today.” Very fun to see this video. It’s part of my childhood.

[@thestateofalaska]

I did some training there. Really weird flying over miles of nothing then suddenly a massive runway appears in front of you.

[@mrpw1402]

Almost like a mirage for pilots

[@SkunkApe407]

If you think the 'Glades are "miles of nothing", you clearly didn't spend any time there outside of your cushy airplane. The 'Glades are probably Florida's greatest natural treasure.

[@thestateofalaska]

@@SkunkApe407 Oh I’ve been there before. It’s quite lovely. Doesn’t change the fact that it all looks the same from a plane. And I think it’d be weirder if I was outside of my cushy airplane given the fact that I was doing airplane school, not everglades school. Time and place.

[@SkunkApe407]

@@thestateofalaska I spent quite a few years in the Navy, which entailed a good bit of schooling. I still managed to find time to explore the surrounding areas. If you were training there, you were most likely staying close by. Had you spent any time actually exploring the 'Glades, you'd know that there's actually quite a lot there.

[@thejackbox]

@@SkunkApe407I spent years there in the navy. There’s nothing there bud

[@suzannegarrison5944]

My father was lured into buying 10 acres of swamp land in the Everglades. He did finally recognize his mistake but who else would buy it? Than he was contacted (I'm not sure who it was) to sell his land(yippie) for this group building an airport. I always wondered what happened to that airport, and now I know. I am also happy that it gets some use.

[@katiesiouxlamoureaux7757]

Nice backstory, thankyou

[@Trevor-gu8bb]

It's more likely that land went to some tiny strip being built. The Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport covers an area of 24,960 acres.

[@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958]

Glad your family was able to sell the swampland. Most Florida "land owners" are not so fortunate.

[@Luckyleol]

Btw the everglades aren't really swamp lands or a jungle, they're wetlands or a marsh. Also the everglades is technically a large and very slow river. Though some coasts do have mangrove swamps.

[@wingracer1614]

It's also not in Orlando as his little map animation showed.

[@Luckyleol]

@@wingracer1614 yea. But many people pointed that out already

[@SkunkApe407]

@@wingracer1614 what do you expect? Most non-Floridians think that Orlando and Miami are the only two cities in Florida. Heck, most people think Florida is nothing more than a giant theme park. Every year, we have at least one person severely injured or killed by wildlife, and people inevitably ask why wild animals are allowed to be near humans. Like we're supposed to sterilize our entire state so that mashed potato looking Michiganders and frumpy, pale New Yorkers aren't scared by nature. Even the vast majority of "Florida Man" stories are about out-of-state transplants who come here thinking our state is a no rules free-for-all.

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

And swamp lands are different from wetlands or a marsh because...

[@SkunkApe407]

@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music marshes tend to be filled with grasses and other herbaceous plants, whereas swamps tend to be home to woody plants like trees. Wetland is a general term that encompasses both marshes and swamps.

[@douglasboyle6544]

One of the most interesting things to come out of the "Supersonic" age of jet flight was Boeing jumping in with both feet so hard to build supersonic planes that when Seattle got their NBA franchise in 1967 they named them the SuperSonics shortly before the whole thing at Boeing got shut down because the FAA did testing over Oklahoma City that showed people didn't want Sonic Booms dooming Boeing's Supersonic planes. This led to the ultimate irony when the Seattle Supersonics left Seattle in 2006 because they were bought by a consortium to move them to, you guessed it, Oklahoma City.

[@TreiPani]

99pi does a great episode on this

[@richardjacques1731]

And Seattle got to keep the SuperSonics name, and OKC named their team....wait for it....THE THUNDER!

[@kappaman1994]

Damn… great irony & great comment

[@hkray]

Damn… great irony & great comment Yes, and so tangential to all the other great comments... from swamp land to thunder yet all connected to planes....

[@mbarker]

This was one reason Montreal's Mirabel airport was built. The airport would have been the 'eastern gateway' for super sonic jets entering Canada, feeding Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto with short-haul flights. (Another potential location for this airport was in Ontario, closer to Toronto, but Montreal got the airport because politics.)

[@fuzzwork]

Mirabel was supposed to replace both YUL and YOW with a 4 lane expressway and a high speed rail line running between the downtowns. Expressway got sort of half built, train didn't get built a all, leaving YMQ in the middle of nowhere between the two cities

[@thezackast2752]

@@fuzzwork I'm sorry to sound uneducated, but could you tell me what all the stuff starting with Ys are? I am rather confused

[@ethanleclerc4879]

@@thezackast2752 airports codes. YUL is Montreal's Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport.

[@thezackast2752]

@@ethanleclerc4879 ok, thanks for the clarification

[@michaela6156]

Along with the Big “O(we)”, Montreal has a bit of a reputation for expensive white elephants

[@paolo4277]

I'm a 17 year old private pilot, and my examiner actually made me do a few takeoffs and landings at this exact runway on my pilot test!

[@1224chrisng]

I heard that Chuck Yeager got his pilot's license before his driving license, has other pilots done the same?

[@nodical802]

@time to leave earth reported for spam

[@andrew04207]

@@1224chrisng I am sure that plenty have. Need to be 17 to finish a pilot's license which is the same as a driver's license in many states. So, if somebody wanted to be a pilot but didn't rush to get their driver's license then it's totally possible

[@paolo4277]

@@1224chrisng I actually don’t have a drivers license, but I am an instrument rated private pilot.

[@christopherbazaka1564]

@@1224chrisng actually no, he was the best and nobody can beat him even today :O

[@DigitalCasm]

To this day, nobody has crossed an alligator picket line.

[@maxsmodels]

I gave elder care to Bob Sampson, the former airport commander (yes , that was his official title) of KTNT (the airports FAA designation). Bob has passed away now but it was interesting to hear you tell the story which is more or less they way he told it to me.

[@bootblacking]

"Crocodile to human ratio" There are about a thousand crocodiles left in Florida, they are extremely endangered. There are 1.3 million alligators, however.

[@SearTrip]

True, still, compared to the rest of the U.S., the area has an insanely high crocodile to human ratio.

[@vacafuega]

Most important comment

[@coyoteartist]

@@SearTrip Actually it's currently between 1,500 and 2,000 so you're more right then you were.

[@User31129]

Really? I thought there were as many Crocodiles in Florida as there are penguins in Alaska.

[@ClarinoI]

All alligators are crocodiles, not all crocodiles are alligators.

[@NittWitt]

Pretty sure that your map with the Everglades annotated is about 300 miles too far north of the actual Everglades.

[@soundscape26]

It definitely is.

[@wingracer1614]

Yeah Everglades is not in Orlando.

[@5roundsrapid263]

They got the Everglades and the Magic Kingdom mixed up!

[@steves186]

If you start fact checking this video, you're going to be busy.

[@Add_Infinitum]

My favorite part of this is the fact that they were going to build a huge airport in the middle of the swamp and then someone asked "Wait, would that hurt the swamp?" like there was any doubt. And yeah, I know the real reason for the study was probably just to have it officially written down, but still

[@gogglez.]

Its literally a National park and they were like “yeah let’s put a airport in here for super sonic jets that totally would be fine”

[@marvindebot3264]

@@gogglez. Quite, I'm sure even gators don't like sonic booms much.

[@MotorolaTriumphUser]

@@marvindebot3264 the gators don’t mind as long as they are underwater I’m pretty sure. I think it’s one of the reasons we launch space shuttles from an island and not the mainland

[@marvindebot3264]

@@MotorolaTriumphUser You realise sound travels thru water faster and better than it does thru air, right?

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

@@marvindebot3264 But they transfer very very poorly across a water-air interface, sound waves coming from the air will just bounce off the water instead of being conducted into it.

[@ole0510]

The question is would the generic weird traveller have been able to get drunk on local liquor in those expensive bars?

[@czechslovakian]

They would gamble their money away by betting on 17

[@ole0510]

@@czechslovakian that sounds about right

[@FelixGraye]

Would they have a good time while doing so?

[@joermnyc]

And could they catch a fish nearby?

[@ravinmarokef]

Would they be able to eat at a local Michelin-star restaurant as well?

[@Andyxoxx]

Looking forward to seeing this on the annual HAI mistakes video since the marked location of the Everglades @2:49 was about 250 miles north of its actual location. Love the videos and I am subscribed to Nebula!

[@jojbenedoot7459]

As someone from Orlando it was very weird to see my city listed as the Everglades lol

[@Uneedhelp91]

As someone who lives in central Florida, I was awestruck to see that the everglades went above lake Okeechobee.

[@Uneedhelp91]

That dot is basically Lakeland....some 300miles north of the everglades.

[@tonymagona334]

@@Uneedhelp91 300?! Nah man Lakeland is at most 100 miles from Lake Okeechobee (starting point of the Everglades). 300 miles is more like the distance between Miami and St. Augustine.

[@robertzeurunkl8401]

2:48 - that label is about 200 miles from the actual location. The everglades are down at the south tip of the state alongside Miami.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Yep, the dot is up around Orlando.

[@noahstabler3561]

02:47 that is not where the Everglades are. It’s MUCH further south

[@gilonkravatsky458]

Yeah lol, off by 150 miles or so.

[@paul9299]

Yup, caught that too, last time I checked the everglades are not in the Orlando area

[@Luckyleol]

Well before urbanization, most of Florida was wetlands or the everglades. Which is technically a big slow river. But iirc that starts on lake Okeechobee.

[@christopherstarnes9933]

On the graphic around 2:55, the location for the Everglades is incorrect. It’s south of lake Okeechobee, not north of it

[@bitterbuick]

I came to say the same. Video mentions Everglades then puts a map pin on freaking Orlando basically.

[@jimdennis2451]

@@bitterbuick Which is a swamp of a different sort.

[@mgriff39]

That pin is basically where Walt Disney World is…

[@elpepe2136]

Fun fact there is a big triangle shaped runway in the middle of a swamp about 100 miles north, it is used by lockheed martin to test missiles and radar devices.

[@firstlast9731]

actually is about 50 miles south and i think was abandoned after the cold war

[@seanthesheep]

Illuminati... confirmed??

[@SkunkApe407]

That's been gone for almost 30 years, bud. Even their Dynamic Testing Range in Orlando is gone. Actually, Universal Studios bought the DTR, and is in the process of turning it into a new resort called Epic Universe. I did the initial survey work, as well as following an EOD crew to help locate, map, and destroy any unexploded ordinance prior to construction. Sometimes I love my job.

[@SkunkApe407]

@@seanthesheep nope, just simple flight logistics. Multiple runways allows you to launch and recover aircraft simultaneously. Also, a triangular layout would allow pilots to mitigate wind direction and the sun in their eyes during launches and landings.

[@davidmedlin8562]

You showed. Red dot in the middle of Florida that says everglades. I grew up where that dot is it is not the glades. The glades are at the south western "tip" of Florida

[@joon3900]

yeah

[@RocTroller]

Non Floridians too lazy to look up where the glades are smh

[@PFBM86]

He did it on purpose so that a bunch of rubes would rush to the comment section to correct him, thereby increasing the video's engagement metrics and making the Almighty Algorithm more likely to recommend it.

[@petersmythe6462]

"Emergency space shuttle landing site." Imagine the runway gets infested with alligators and all four staff have to try to scare them away so the shuttle can land safely?

[@DoABarrelRol1l]

I can see the sequel to Sully now… ‘Houston, we have a problem’ >4 hicks Out there with brooms ‘Go on get! Damn gators’

[@F-Man]

The Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center often had to deal with wildlife on the runway - gators included!

[@johnp139]

Like a hundred miles (away from KSC) will really matter.

[@ronaldharris6569]

That is what the crocodiles are for they have the instincts for herding alligators like an Australian Shepard. All airports in Florida hire them

[@classifiedad1]

A Soviet Cosmonaut had the lovely experience of landing in the middle of Siberia several days away from civilization in a half-functioning capsule and a hungry bear outside. Now cosmonauts are indeed armed for such occasions, except the weapon he had was a 9mm Makarov pistol, a small handgun with 8 shots firing a less powerful round than standard 9mm Parabellum. And 9mm Parabellum works against people, but not a bear five times bigger, stronger, considerably hungrier, and has things like claws and sharp teeth. Naturally he stayed inside and waited several days for rescuers in a helicopter, who had proper guns, to arrive. They were able to scare off the bear with rifle shots.

[@holasoyalejandro9822]

2:50 you put the everglades in the wrong place; it’s in South Florida not Central Florida

[@the_ratmeister]

It's about where Orlando is on the map in the video

[@joon3900]

yep

[@fissionabledolphin]

Why is this a question? It’s obviously for people to drive their Alligators on

[@trimeta]

South Florida already has an Alligator Alley. (That's the common name for the highway running through the Everglades.)

[@syxepop]

@@trimeta - wonder if a large plane can land on US-27.... 🤔🤔🤔

[@DrumBum561]

I drive past this airport when heading to the west coast all the time, and it's truly in the middle of nowhere. Even with a monorail it's a good 40-45 minutes from Miami's city center.

[@zacharytracy3797]

Wait that monorail ACTUALLY RUNS?

[@DrumBum561]

@@zacharytracy3797 no, but the initial plans had wanted one. And even driving around 75 mph still takes about 40 minutes, but if you factor in the stops they would have inserted it would take longer.

[@zacharytracy3797]

@@DrumBum561 ah got it. Thanks Spence.

[@9sunstar9]

I think you confused alligators and crocodiles. There are over a million gators in Florida (with an estimate 200,000 in the evergaldes) relative to maybe a few thousand crocodiles in the entire state. You also made a comment calling the everglades a jungle, it's actually considered a very large, slow moving river.

[@koboldparty4708]

Maybe he meant to say “crocodilians?” He did correctly refer to them as alligators later.

[@Luckyleol]

We do have crocs but those are footwear. Jk, lol. But yea our crocs are salt water crocs. So they are on the coast or the keys iirc.

[@michaelcampbell6820]

He also showed 7 or 8 different airplanes when describing "Supersonic airplanes" but only 3 of them are actually capable of supersonic flight. Why let technical accuracy ruin a perfectly good story?

[@j-train13]

@@Luckyleol there are actually a couple thousand crocs in the Everglades though, just not nearly as many as many as crocodiles (The Everglades actually being the only place in the world where both exist)

[@ArtStoneUS]

80% of his videos should not be taken literally

[@andrewdiamond2697]

There are a number of airports that have overbuilt runways that exist for weather situations, aircraft emergencies, and diversions. I had always heard that this was one of those. I had no idea that there was more planned.

[@datboichris6974]

hello there, I am a student pilot in miami. I have landed here plenty of times. this runway, while never being used for its original intention, is awesome these days. love the huge length that allows me to freely practice here.

[@FacterinoCommenterino]

Today's fact: Like humans, plants recognize their siblings and give them preferential treatment.

[@indecipherable22]

Amogus

[@tetoterritory]

among us

[@hiramsicles5580]

Guys he’s a bot I saw him on the penguinz0 video posted like 5 minutes ago

[@tetoterritory]

@@hiramsicles5580 it’s a good bot 1. informative 2. doesn’t spam every comment 3. isn’t offensive

[@hiramsicles5580]

@@tetoterritory I know I was just saying

[@N9830G]

Dade Collier Training and Transition (KTNT) had a period of time when it absolutely had flight per minute use. Following the familure of the domestic SST program, TNT found a new purpose as a training center for pilots transitioning to larger aircraft. Prior to the advent of modern full-motion flight simulators, pilots gained transition training in the actual aircraft on which they were transitioning, hence the airport's name. Historically done in the US southwest due to sparse population centers and hospitable flying weather year-round, TNT provided that for airlines based on the US East Coast as well as European and South American carriers.

[@mattgarnham]

Alligators-to-humans ratio is much higher than crocodiles-to-humans and the location of the airport is much further South than it looks to shown at 2:50.

[@thokim84]

How about crocodilians?

[@WITCEAS]

As a new resident of Florida, I can confirm that there isn't swamp right outside my door when I leave Tampa.

[@xzeroangelx]

I did my Commercial check ride at this airport. It's the best airport for practicing every maneuver. Nice to see you give it some attention.

[@patrickjoyce2276]

I started out as a controller at TMB in 1975, when it was one of busiest GA airports in the US. TMB also staffed TNT on an "as needed basis" when the airlines at that time did not have sims to checkout pilots. We worked out of an old Air Force temporary tower about 30 feet up. It was fun working a pattern of 3 Eastern Air Lines baby 9's & TriStars and 4 National Air Lines DC10's & B727's doing T&G's and instrument approaches. No radar, no tape recorders, just "plane" fun.

[@KGBSpyGeorgeCostanza]

Has that airfield been used for....nefarious purposes, you know Miami has a history of....import and export

[@bullzebub]

my first thought!

[@chevychase3103]

You mean the monkey pox?

[@blackopscw7913]

@@chevychase3103 Drugs...

[@mistywolf312]

They tend to use boats and submarines for that in this area.

[@KGBSpyGeorgeCostanza]

@@chevychase3103 no cocaine and drugs, drug trafficking routes

[@Haunter-pl3zt]

I love this guy’s videos. You’ll forget whatever useful information he told you the next day but the way it’s presented it’s so entertaining I usually save to watch them when going to sleep or when pooping :)

[@barelyalivebobcat8380]

I knew this was KTNT before even opening it up! Learning to fly in south Florida, we flew in here a bunch for landing pratace and generalized flight training. Even saw a gator off of one of the taxiways there. Really cool to hear the true story why this strange massive runway popped up in the middle of the Everglades!

[@baxtercat5462]

I used to do some training out at this airport. My flight instructor and I flew there when I was 12 years old and we practiced landings. My father is an airline pilot, and when he got his first airline job for Caribbean Express in the 1980s, they flew around this airport giving trainings on how to land the plane and fly instrument approaches. My dad has still got an aerial photo of his plane on final approach for the runway. I, personally, believe this airport is the site of some current military activity. Last time I landed there, there were Army trucks on the apron.

[@XeonAlpha]

2:49 I see the Everglades have been moved Orlando... that's news to this Floridian.

[@lamborghini4268]

Love the video however, to add to the things we got wrong video at the end of the year, at 2:48 the Everglades are in south florida between Naples and Miami, not in orlando, where you show it on the graphic.

[@TheLiamster]

This reminds me of the Mirabel airport in Montreal which was going to be Canadas largest airport and also had a monorail connecting to downtown Montreal

[@southronjr1570]

My father went through flight school back in the late 60's and early 70's in south Florida and used to shot touch and go's on that runway right after they shut down the project. He told me about another abandoned WW2 field further south that was used as a bomber training base and was completely abandoned, not even a road able to access it, where he and his buddies would go out over and do some really crazy flying. One such time, about 6 of them got together one Sat because they were going to have a competition of who could do the most spins in a Cesena 150. They all flew out there, he and his room mate, who oddly enough was afraid of heights (he was crop duster pilot and wanted to expand his certs but would get nervous whenever they would climb above 500 feet), went up to 12,000 ft, the highest they could get to, and put it into a spin directly above the abandoned strip, he said he counted 18 before they started to pull out and when they got out of the spin, they were less than 150 feet above the ground. They both decided they were done for the day and flew back to the school. When they got out of the plane they notice the wings were bent in an upward angle by about 5 degrees.needless to say they had some explaining to do, they convinced the school director that they were caught in a downdraft further north and he believed it, the plane had to be written off by the ins company bc the wing spar and all the control rods were damaged and it would have cost more to fix than the plane had been worth brand new. Seeing as how the school had over 200 planes, it didn't interrupt operations at all. He had several other wild stories about flying in school, especially when his primary instructor woukd take him up, the instructor was an old WW2 8th AirForce B17 pilot with 62 missions plus another career as a TWA pilot.

[@blaster-zy7xx]

The location given at 2:50 is REALLY wrong. The video shows it almost up to Orlando while the actual airport is way down on the southern tip just west of Miami.

[@palm1986]

I flew into this quite a bit in FSX because I liked how big the airport was compared to most places in south Florida, I always thought huh this is just a big airport in the middle of nowhere and didn’t think anything of it

[@DiniM]

I used to fish those lakes around the runway 20 years ago! A bit of a walk from where we had to park (gated) but extremely good fishing for bass and oscars. We did have to mind the many gators tho

[@owenpapsdorf29]

Great video! Can’t wait for the follow up about how cinderblocks will fix it, or we’re used for it, or should’ve been used for it? Idk, I just know you been working on this cinderblock video for awhile now and it’s gonna be good

[@Thebreakdownshow1]

Because FLORIDA.

[@jiya6531]

LOL that is funny. BTW just checked your channel, subscribed.

[@phant0m597]

The sentiment behind this video is great, but so much of the information is flawed or misspoken. The Everglades are not a jungle. They are wetlands. Also, several of the graphics depict the Everglades being smack dab in the middle of Florida, around Lake okeechobee? I’ve lived in Florida the majority of my life, I’m not sure if you made these graphics or if somebody else did but they are horribly misinformed. Aside from all of that, awesome video!

[@shine111]

now tbf I've heard of much dumber places to put an airport in. at least a swamp is guaranteed to be mostly flat. and the alligators are such convenient speedbumps, airlines would save billions on brakes!

[@josephpearlman4010]

@2:49 your map showing the Everglades is a couple of hundred miles North of where it is. The Everglades starts under Lake Okeechobee.

[@louiearmstrong]

I remember living under a daily Concorde flight path in the 90s. Even at subsonic, over land speeds, it sounded like a fighter jet crashing. It is hard to describe how loud it was

[@Anne91000]

Not really a jungle, a swamp.

[@wingracer1614]

Technically, the everglades is not a swamp

[@rebasack21]

i have heard the stories of sonic booms breaking glass and other fragile items but this was the first time i heard that they killed any animals. poor things, its not actually a surprise i can only imagine the terror they must have felt.

[@kennyr5906]

Dade Collier (KTNT) is nowadays a commonly used training airport for new pilots, I remember doing up to 4 touch and goes in a 172 lol. I wonder if this airport could make a comeback now that supersonic transports might be a thing once again.

[@TobyMole]

As a (mostly) human being raised in somewhere, I highly appreciate the increasing levels of sardonic humor in your infotainment videos. Keep it up.

[@jlpack62]

In that particular location, you are more likely to encounter alligators than crocs. In either case, neither of the two species is naturally aggressive toward humans and attacks are quite rare.

[@achecase]

Concise format is choice!

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

Let's not forget about the whole supersonic boom thing not just being a single boom, but continuous booms as it goes by..

[@RedRocket4000]

Turns out there still a important need for that landing strip. And it's remote location great for practicing as there almost no one to crash into.

[@chl_ca]

Florida man builds a runway in the middle of a swamp

[@apollosaturn5]

When I saw the title, "There’s a Massive Runway in the Middle of Florida’s Swamplands", I though: "PABLO ESCOBAR!". It's Miami, it's Florida, draw your own conclusions.

[@zooly132]

2:50 The map pin there is pretty much near Orlando and the Everglades is almost 200 miles south. Good stuff though!

[@travisnorton9288]

I have a camp out by there, the conservation club I’m in helps cut and spray melaleuca trees in the airport and sometimes help the military with airdrop search practice and picking up paratroopers

[@stephen3164]

Supersonic trans ocean travel would not bother many, if you hit that sound barrier 30,000’ over ocean waters, but the Concorde had its run, and I think was deemed just too expensive to be profitable. Or something like that. One thing I’d worry about on that Everglades runway would be to hit a gator on takeoff or landing!

[@syxepop]

Actually, the last 5-7 years of Concorde were PROFITABLE for BA and AF (the TAXPAYERS of both countries were the ones to "RECEIVE THE BOOM") when they found how much to raise the rates to make it profitable.

[@User31129]

The Concorde couldn't spread it's ridiculous fuel costs over 400 people like the 747 could. I think the Concorde max seating was like 180. They had to keep the cabin thin for minimizing heat creation while moving at 1,000 MPH. So cheap tickets on it were like $3,000 a seat, upwards to over $10,000 a seat I hear. More and more seats started going empty because people were like "screw that. I can travel at half the speed for a quarter of the price."

[@SkunkApe407]

There are gators in literally every body of fresh water in Florida. We have several international airports in the state already, and gators have never been a problem. They wouldn't have been an issue at this airport either. You see, we Floridians have spent our entire lives around these lizards, and we really don't mind them. We'd simply move the big sonofagun, just like we do all the others. And if it is too big or ornery to move, we'll eat 'em. Trust me, the only people in Florida that worry about gators are tourists.

[@SkunkApe407]

@@syxepop if it was profitable, it wouldn't have been scrapped. The tickets were well over $1000 for a one way trip, the seats sucked, and there was really nothing to justify the cost. Most Concorde flights never sold out seating, meaning virtually every flight resulted in lost revenue. It was a gimmick that lost its appeal once you looked past the flashy "go-fast" coat of paint.

[@flybyairplane3528]

@@User31129 hello, my brother &I left LONDON - DULLES ONE WAY, So that was so long ago, BEFORE they were allowed into JFK,THE SEATS WERE QUITE COMFORTABLE, AND FOOD WAS EXCELLENT,but you needed a cab to WASHINGTON NATIONAL, TO NEWARK, picked up my car from long time parking,,drove home, close to EWR, ,,,🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@ATXevolutionz]

while yes the sonic booms were a problem, its sort of incorrect. Concord almost never flew supersonic over land and the actual sound that could be heard was not much louder than a conversation in a crowded area. most sonic boom complaints were on military aircraft as they trained over land more often. Simon Whistler talked about it on this Concord MegaProjects video

[@I-Teee]

Likely correct, but I saw a Concord jet take off from London-Heathrow way back and that thing shook the glass exterior walls of the terminal. Some people ran for cover. It was wild.

[@wingracer1614]

@@I-Teee Yes it was EXTREMELY load on takeoff but that is not a sonic boom. That's just really load engines at full throttle.

[@I-Teee]

@@wingracer1614 I know. You’re talking about breaking the sound barrier. This dude said the Concord was never “much louder than a conversation”. That’s completely wrong.

[@SkunkApe407]

Fact Boi did an amazing video on the Concorde! Simon's writing staff is easily one of the best on this platform.

[@edenjumper5958]

Great vid! 👌 but also other than alligators the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida does also occupy that area of the Everglades. As do the Seminoles a little more north.

[@fldon2306]

I remember when the Concord used to land at MIA… Everglades Airport? Private pilots can practice touch-and-gos or an emergency strip when needed…. Better yet, for drag racing Teslas!

[@tanman99]

Huh…I didn’t know the Everglades were all the way up there in Winter Haven instead of 300 miles south like I always thought it was. Guess all those crocodiles in Florida must be confused.

[@SkunkApe407]

Well, I'd be happy if they could bring Sanibel a little closer, too. Sometimes I really want to go to my beach house, but the drive from Orlando to Sanibel is a drag.

[@General12th]

Well, it could _have_ landed the Space Shuttle in an emergency -- past tense emphasized. The Space Shuttle program ended over a decade ago.

[@artbobik3516]

TNT was the best runway I ever landed on - never had to worry about landing a little long or floating - when they first built it, they had a L-1049 Super Constellation (1st Plane I ever flew in) sitting on top of a building back in the day -

[@dougvillegas8303]

I never would have imagined a Skunk Ape reference in a Half As Interesting video.

[@SkunkApe407]

What about me?

[@TesserId]

So, when someone says "I have some swamp land in Florida to sell", there are people with some serious money who fall for it?

[@SkunkApe407]

Why do you think there are so many New Yorkers in South Florida? Ain't a single Floridian gonna pay a million dollars for a patch of sinkholes and quicksand.

[@wertiaaudit5746]

I wouldn't spend serious money on it but if it's cheap

[@mehtabdhanoa9349]

The average Florida man would definitely make that airport into a hangout while the planes are landing and taking off

[@christopherbazaka1564]

youre pretty much describing what the airport attendant actually does here all day lol

[@pigmaster4151]

The everglades have a crocodile population of roughly 2,000 and depending on what you consider the everglades a human population between 500-200,000, therefore, having a low crocodile-to-people ratio

[@lucykwiatek5159]

There's a great corollary to this about the time that Oklahoma City was the site of major supersonic testing, which made the FAA head's visit there very precarious, safety-wise.

[@cashburn26]

How does this man still find interesting plane-related topics to talk about

[@Disco45Sound]

"concorde hitting the scene with backing from British and French companies". It was a state-funded though an agreement between the British and French governments. But you generally don't let facts get in your way of your flimsly research.

[@orangeradishneo]

My mom used to work near the Toronto airport when the Concorde would come through… she tells me stories about how they’d get notified ahead of time before takeoff and landing, as they were unable to hear their own phones, inside their office!

[@marvindebot3264]

I only ever saw one once, the loudest takeoff I've ever heard but then I never got to see a Vulcan.

[@shashwatdwivedi9025]

Been to this airport and overflown it like 100s of times during my pilot training. Massive runway in middle of nowhere.

[@jonasdatlas4668]

...why wouldn't you build one there? If there ever was a place to want to escape from by plane, this is it.

[@zyansheep]

4:38 I love how Half as Interesting and Wendover Productions always like to tease each other in their videos. I'm starting to think Sam might have a fetish for auto-humiliation.

[@jackstecker5796]

I lived in the northeast growing up as a teenager. I was close enough to the flight path, you could hear that sonic boom from Concordes everyday at about 0900-0930. Sounded like thunder, off in the distance.

[@michaeltaylors2456]

I heard an SR-71 boom as part of its 20th anniversary. Sounded like a cannon shot but sharper.

[@goodryan8989]

Hey @Half As interesting I know this is a small detail but you put the marker at 2:50 for the everglades wayyyy to high up the everglades essentially ends at the I75

[@robnunya572]

Chuck Yeager didn't have diddly to do with designing or constructing the X-1. He just flew it. (The design was stolen as well, but that's another story). I appreciate that it's hyperbole for storytelling purposes, but that kind of statement can, and does, get taken out of context and becomes 'internet fact'. And that is a bad thing.

[@ClarinoI]

Why, when speaking of supersonic flights, does nobody ever point out the obvious in relation to airports? Namely that you slow down to well below Mach 1 for the landing phase. Having transatlantic supersonic flights from this airport wouldn't have involved any over land supersonic flights, therefore no sonic booms over residential areas. Mind you, the same could be said for Miami International Airport.

[@wingracer1614]

Very true but there is another problem, at least for Concorde. It was extremely effing LOUD on takeoff and landing despite being subsonic. It couldn't fly into a lot of airports just for that reason. So an airport near the coast but in the middle of nowhere kinda makes sense.

[@ClarinoI]

@@wingracer1614 Concorde may have been loud, but so are most other jets. The engines in Concorde were Rolls Royce Olympus engines which were developed in the 1950s. Engines developed later are more powerful and far quieter. It's not beyond our current technology to have engines which are capable of powering a supersonic aircraft without causing significant noise pollution at ground level.

[@dgrombach1]

I remember going to my grandparents and seeing this being built.

[@DriftyCraft]

Playing flight sim flying over the everglades it stands out like a sore thumb in the swamp. I always wondered why it was so big for where it was.

[@alex_zetsu]

I know this isn't the reason this project failed but why do futurists like monorails so much? The most obvious reason is that it looks cool to have rails in the skyline. On a more practical note, sometimes the obvious underground option doesn't work. But... can't you just make an elevated viaduct for a light rail if you want an above ground line?

[@samiraperi467]

Some European cities apparently have elevated light rail.

[@Decipher13]

Quite a few North American cities have elevated light rail as well.

[@nunya___]

They've been around almost 100 years. Monorails are very quite and have a smoother ride but can't switch tracks as easily as traditional rail so, perfect for dedicated low speed loops.

[@alex_zetsu]

@@samiraperi467 So from an empirical point of view, do elevated light rail or monorails work when you need to be above ground? I think a strong case can be made monorails don't offer much over viaducts unless you want to minimize noise. And to be honest, in a city your rails aren't even going to be the biggest source of noise anyways.

[@SkunkApe407]

Now, take a moment to think about those things called hurricanes, and ask that question again. I appreciate the thought, but as a Floridian, a flying boxcar is the last thing I want to add to the list of "Ways to Die in Florida". Thanks anyway!

[@arnbrandy]

Friendly reminder that a thumbnail with the sentence "This was a mistake" pointing to a runway in Florida is also a thumbnail with the sentence "This was a mistake" pointing to Florida.

[@SkunkApe407]

The only mistake in Florida history was allowing non-Floridians to settle here. I'm sick and tired of hearing how things are done in New York and Michigan. If northern states are so much better, the borders are open, and we have two interstates aimed in that direction. I'd be so much happier if my beaches weren't packed with amorphous flesh blobs that smell like pastrami and suntan lotion.

[@xcvx16]

the pedal thrust joke got a chuckle out of me.

[@RaymondHng]

I found the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on Google Maps. Just 15 miles southeast of the airport is the AirJet Flight 592 Memorial.

[@fyukfy2366]

2:38 the everglades, just like the rest of the US, does not naturally have crocodiles, it has alligators

[@trimeta]

Actually, the Everglades does have crocodiles, in addition to alligators. In fact, it's the only place with both (or at least, both the American Alligator and the American Crocodile).

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Science Tip: you can tell the difference between alligators and crocodiles by whether they see you later or after a while.

[@wingracer1614]

@@trimeta Yes indeed though the crocs wouldn't be anywhere near the airport. That's freshwater that far inland. The crocs will be in the saltwater at the coast.

[@hongkongbros7656]

2:50 it ain’t the Everglades but Lakeland is a pretty close second 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@peytonprice4915]

Ay Sam, it’s alligators in FL, Crocs are invasive.

[@matthewwelsh294]

There is a native species, the American Crocodile

[@EvilGav]

Most of those complaints about sonic booms came from the Oklahoma City tests in the 1960s - where they generated 8 sonic booms at lower altitudes every day for 6 months. The class action lawsuit that that created and the politics involved are why Concorde and super-sonic flight over land was killed.

[@gladitsnotme]

Concorde was ended bc of unfounded safety concerns and lack of profit.

[@ihavetowait90daystochangem67]

You can still remove the Runway and still the whole was a mistake

[@damustermann]

I love your channel, but the over usage of stock materials and not a single photo of the topic discussed is a letdown. That is observed in all the more recent videos, it gets worse....

[@SJohnTrombley]

Nobody tell Sam that commercial jets still go around 500 mph.

[@patrickmartin3322]

This would be a great place to use for automotive top speed testing

[@wingracer1614]

Not needed. Chrysler already has a facility in the everglades (I think they actually bought it from VW) that they rent out to other manufacturers as well. This area was full of C8 Corvettes in camo long before release just for that reason.