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In the Southwest corner of LAX (at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Pershing Dr.) there is a strange looking area that appears to have some abandoned airplane parts. Also, it looks like a road-striper had a good time one day doing donuts around one of the artifacts. Anyone familiar with this area and what it is used for?

enter image description here

See Google Maps

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    $\begingroup$ Great answers - any insights on the yellow lines? $\endgroup$
    – Trevor
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:27
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    $\begingroup$ It looks like the lines are just practicing/testing for painting taxiway and runway markings. $\endgroup$
    – fooot
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 20:37
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    $\begingroup$ From the question title I thought you meant the corner where Southwest's terminal is located. Upon looking at the map I learned that Southwest's terminal is actually located in the north east corner of the airport. I don't know why but that made me laugh. $\endgroup$
    – Cave Johnson
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 23:34
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    $\begingroup$ Maybe to avoid disposing of unused paint they just dump it there. Or they were a little excited about the next NASCAR race and had their own. $\endgroup$
    – Chris A
    Commented Apr 17, 2016 at 3:36
  • $\begingroup$ Related: LAFD Live Fire Training At LAX $\endgroup$
    – mins
    Commented Oct 31, 2016 at 18:35

2 Answers 2

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It is an aircraft fire simulator. They use it for training emergency response personnel and vehicles.

You can see them training on one in this YouTube video

enter image description here
Source: Leipzig Halle Airport

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    $\begingroup$ That confirms what I was going to post as a speculative comment. I got too busy playing around in the "3D" view and looking around the airport to come back to post... $\endgroup$
    – FreeMan
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 19:09
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    $\begingroup$ Any idea what the "donut stripes" are in the OP's picture, though? $\endgroup$
    – yshavit
    Commented Apr 16, 2016 at 18:14
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    $\begingroup$ @yshavit I'm assuming like the other commentor on the OP that they test the stripe painting equipment and/or paint in that area. $\endgroup$
    – Ron Beyer
    Commented Apr 17, 2016 at 1:22
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All major airports have practice fire fighting facilities equipped with dummy aircraft that are made of steel so they don't burn.

In addition to the dummy steel aircraft, they will often use retired aircraft to use for familiarization and evacuation training.

enter image description here Source enter image description here Source enter image description here Source

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