Originally Posted by
WHBM
Aircraft don't have a single runway length as minimum, it depends very much on a whole series of factors. Out of Rock Sound Pan Am will have been carrying just fuel for the hop to Miami, and probably not much cargo; 7,200 ft will have been fine for that. I've been at St Petersburg, Florida (PIE) when the main 9,730 ft runway was closed for resurfacing. Charter A310s operating to Toronto were departing from the alternate 5,900 ft runway without issue.
Bear in mind that every 707 built took off from the 5,300 ft strip at Renton, where they were built.
And when Pan Am was flying B707 service from Rock Sound to New York JFK via an intermediate stop in Nassau, the distance the aircraft had to travel from from RSD to NAS was just over 70 nautical miles....so perhaps PA then refueled the 707 at Nassau prior to departing to JFK.