What is this?

[rpayne88]

Go to these coordinates in Google Earth:

N39 16' 00.03" W076 45' 00.02

I've lived in Catonsville my entire life. I've always been wondering why an "airport" is there when its in the middle of someone's back yard. It is not on any WAC, sectional, or TAC.

Any ideas?

[goduranus]

A RC airplane runway?

[Ravenchant]

Are you sure those are the correct cordinates? I just see a regular suburban street with a lot of tree coverage.

[Deadpangod3]

Same as above ^

But I'm going to take a guess and say its an RC runway like goduranus said, even though I don't know how RC planes need a special runway.

[cantab]

Likewise, just a bunch of streets and trees. I'm checking Maps, not Earth, so maybe the "airport" is only visible in older imagery or something.

Measuring the size would help you determine if it's a full-sized thing or something scaled down for models or similar.

[Mr_Brain]

The airport isn't visible on the map picture, but it the icon that indicates the location of airports is there.

[Beowolf]

I think it's a "canary trap". Meaning an intentional error Google Earth put into their database to catch people using it without paying. The only places I can see where it appears online are in Google Earth itself, and several lame-looking "airport guide" sites, like this one: http://www.airportia.com/united-states/baltimore-greenbelt-t-airport/

All those sites have the name "Baltimore Greenbelt T", and the code "GBO", but their actual coordinates point to the corner of BWI instead of where Google Earth points us. Reputable sites like Airnav don't show it at all, and I can't find any record of GBO ever being issued as an airport code. I also couldn't find it in Google Maps, only Google Earth.

According to what I could find, the nearest DC Metro stop to BWI is "Greenbelt", so that's perhaps where the name came from. If we could dig deep enough, I bet we'd discover the coords are for some Google database guy's grandparents house or something.

Good catch, rpayne88!