I'm flabbergasted. Why is there a grainy, phantom outline of a plane here? Like a giant rubber stamp. Or, as if a plane dropped straight down and left this imprint as it sank into the sand. What could be the cause of this image?

King Khaled Int'l Airport, SA.

That is bizarre. My theory� A plane was parked for a long time in this location and it allowed plats to grow.??? We have something similar here in Albuquerque. See this post� [url= http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Number/592597 ]web page[/url]

tventuri -

That's a sensible theory. Cyclonic! Yes, we need Cyclonic for this mystery.

It could be a place where they practiced fire training. They set a plane on fire on purpose then have emergency fire crews respond and put out the fire. The stain is the water, rust and anything else that runs off the plane. They usually leave these planes for many fires, putting them out and setting them on fire again. In this spot the plane was removed, leaving the stain behind.

Stains like that are also left behind when planes get washed, but they usually do that on the tar or closer to the airport, not in a random field.
Theres a couple slight stains on the tar here. 24.967134, 46.700513

I would guess its a former fire training area.

Hello Diane

A very nice find you made. My guess, it's an artwork/geoglyph made of small bushes or other vegetation. I don't think it was a fire practice area because there is no round flooring to protect the groundwater and the ground.


Greetings Felippo

Dear Felippo -

You MUST know I would find your idea charming, given my signature. It's not very scientific, like your colleagues' theories, but certainly very entertaining when I picture thirsty, sweltering-hot artists on the ground constructing their "environmental art installation." Now, another key question to flesh out the story - were they Bedouins or ex-pats?

I also wonder:

It's such a perfect silhouette made of plants or debris. (I don't know what the engine-holding, bullet-shaped things are called - don't laugh, Cyc! - anyway, you can even see those.) Would it look like that if it was used for fires or other sensible purposes, which surely must be messy and chaotic? Hmm...well...maybe.

Oh, I'm so torn!

Sincerely,
Diane

P.S. Thanks everyone for your replies!

An interesting find!

I think the parked plane/bush theory has the most plausibility. First, the outline appears to be about the same size as a 747SP. Look over at the auxillary terminal to the NW. There's what appears to be a 747SP parked there (its the smaller of the 747s). Second, look at the shubbery near the hardstand. It appears to have the same color and texture as that outlining the aircraft. The aircraft may have provided shade that let the plant life flourish.

Still, there are a few small curious details. How did the aircraft get there and where did it go? If that is soft sandy soil it would have been very hard to pull it there and then pull it away given the aircraft weight - even empty. There's an expection of settling too if it was on sandy soil, making removal that much harder. Whouldn't it have been better to park it on the hardstand near by? Also, why does the hardstand have those big dark spots? What caused them? Where is the taxiway that would allow movement of the aircraft? The hardstand has an accessway, but following it, it seems to be a road and not a taxiway and in fact there are vehicles visible on it. Note the fence crossing the accessway and along the road. On the otherhand, looking around it looks like there are remains of old runways/taxiways in the area. Look at the two lane road to the NE. That hints at being an old runway. Also note the orientation parallels that of the current runway, but then other roads in the area do to. The road might have been a taxiway at some time as could other roads around there. Look at the road intersections and how they have crurves that are similar to those seen at taxiway intersections. Could this location have been part of an old airport? Perhaps the aircraft mentioned above are parked at an old terminal? Curiousor and curiousor.

Lots of questions - but no answers.

Wow, Satcom, you bring up some intriguing features and questions. You really hit on a major problem with the "parked plane" or "fire training" ideas: no sign of the plane having been dragged out of there. Even if it was a long time ago, the vegetation would not have been scraped off and then grown back so perfectly. That sandy environment is probably very fragile, as other deserts are, so most likely the scrape-marks or towing trail would still show. Even if covered by blowing sand, trails would still stand out against the vegetation.

I was also trying to compare the real planes with the outline, but couldn't decide if they were the same. I'm glad you confirmed they are.

So...unless they used a mega-crane to lift that plane up and out of there, I'm still going with Felippo on this. Mostly because I like the idea - but also because I think the outline is too perfect to be anything but intentional. I'm not saying I can really imagine a bunch of logical military or airline guys building this landscape for fun. I just think if that phantom plane had either served some purpose or been there for a long time, the outline would be less symetrical and tidy than it is. Maybe.

We can only hope someone down there reads this thread and sets us straight! (By the way, where'd I put King Khaled's e-mail address... )

How in the name of Satan and all his little wizards did you find that?

I can't offer any solution as to what is going on ( a phone call to the airport might prove useful ) but I am impressed.

They may be bushes but i doubt they were purposely planted. Why do all that work in a spot no one can see? (except in ge) Why not fill in the whole plane, why make the engines crooked and the tail a mess? etc.

I still think it was a spot where they fire trained, and the water that ran off the plane made plants grow after the plane was removed. The soil around the removed plane would have more water than the rest of the area, and once the plane was removed the sunlight would help them grow. However those black spots are also on the tar and concrete nearby, so im not fully convinced.