Easy. Area 51 hardly exists in the eye of the government, and it is
outside of civilian inspection. Planes land there on a daily basis
filing fake flight plans. The border is protected by a shadowy
security force of nebulous authority. Civilian firms doing business
with the base often end up leaving their trucks at gate 700 of the
NTS, to have the rest of the route driven by the military. The VOR for
the air space is mysteriously assigned to the nearby DRA landing
strip, which can be determined not to have a VOR since it can be seen
from the road. The runways do not show up on any official documents,
including the NTTR range map. The government has stolen land to keep
the base from being easily seen.

All in all, the government has done its best to make Area 51
fascinating. Now contrast that with the nearby Tonopah Test Range. The
government acknowledges it's existance, though the mission is not
clearly stated. There is a sign by the road indicating where to turn
to enter the base. On weekends, the airspace above the TTR is open to
civilian flights. The government has done it's best not to make the
TTR interesting, yet there is probably something going on there as
well.

"Larry Costain" <lawrencec@image.net> wrote in message news:<butk6l$e8q$1@hercules.btinternet.com>...

Why does Area 51 excite so much fascination?