brickhistory, Why Edwards and NOT Nellis?
Nellis has 2 runways, instead of one thus ops, landings and departures can all continue with just a bit of reshuffling.
Take it to Edwards with a problem and the potential to black the runway and suddenly you loose 100% of your runways - not a good idea.
Presumably all of the groundcrew, kit etc were at Nellis, so if I was the Captain, Nellis would have been my first choice also. bags of room etc. etc.
And lets face it, after an incident like that, you all need to get down to the strip and party, aswell as do some gambling. Clearly it is your lucky day!!
Well done to all concerned again.
Winco