New tower causes airport problem

Friday, Sept. 1, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

A new $3 million tower at McCarran International Airport was built too tall and partially blocks the main control tower's view of runways, Airport Director Randy Walker said.

Las Vegas One, a sister company of the Sun, reported on its "News One at Nine" broadcast Thursday that the mistake in design could cost $100,000 to repair.

Walker said today that his immediate concern is to fix the problem on the tower that is slated to be completed and go into operation next year, and assess blame later. He said the matter could wind up being covered by insurance.

"The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) rule is that they must have an unobstructed view of 100 percent of the runway from a sitting position," Walker said.

"For about 50 feet of the runway, you cannot see the wheels of the aircraft in a sitting position (from the FAA tower). If you stand up, you have a 100 percent view."

Walker said he met today with engineers to discuss ways in which to shorten the under-construction tower that will control planes going from the taxiway to the gates and the gates to the taxiway -- an area called "the ramp."

Walker said estimates are that fixing the height problem will cause an eight-week delay in the completion of the ramp tower, which is being built because the FAA will no longer do ramp control -- a task it performed for decades but was not obligated to do.

"News One" reported that the FAA caught the problem last week in time. Had the tower been completed, it could have been a safety risk, "News One" said.