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Flood damage closes already dicey airstrip in remote corner of Death Valley

Death Valley National Park has temporarily closed a remote airstrip at the western edge of the park because of flood damage.

The National Park Service announced Friday that a recent storm had left the dirt runway known as the Chicken Strip in Saline Valley too rough for safe landing.

The airstrip next to a remote but popular hot springs area, 245 miles west of Las Vegas, isn’t an easy place to land even when it’s in good condition.

A plane crashed while attempting to land at the airstrip June 5, before parts of the 1,400-foot-long runway were washed out by flooding.

A parked plane at the Chicken Strip was flipped over by high winds July 1.

The temporary closure came after a third aircraft nearly flipped over while attempting to land July 12. According to the Park Service, the pilot was able to lift back off the ground without landing and fly out of the valley.

The Chicken Strip is maintained by volunteers coordinated by the Recreation Aviation Foundation under an agreement with the National Park Service.

The volunteer campground host at Saline Valley has marked a big X on the airstrip with white rocks to communicate to pilots that the airstrip is closed and unsafe.

The remote location and high summer temperatures increase the consequences if a plane wrecks in Saline Valley, the Park Service said. Few people visit the area in summer, when temperatures routinely top 110 degrees, and the campground host is not always present to initiate an emergency response.

Even when an emergency is called in, it can take up to four hours for rescue crews to reach the valley over about 50 miles of rough dirt road.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Find @RefriedBrean on Twitter.

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