Skies over Las Vegas open to private planes

Monday, Oct. 22, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration this morning reopened the skies over Las Vegas and 11 other cities to private planes whose pilots navigate without instruments and who do not file flight plans.

Restrictions were lifted two weeks ago for general aviation pilots, including those flying Grand Canyon tours, who filed flight plans and flew with instruments.

The skies remain closed, however, to blimps, news helicopters, balloons and planes without tracking devices known as transponders, Hilarie Grey, spokeswoman for Clark County Department of Aviation, said.

Only Washington, New York and Boston still have limits on the small aircraft. The limits were imposed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It sounds like the FAA is slowly restoring general aviation in the national airspace," Grey said. "They are proceeding with caution, making sure they can track plane movements. But this will allow a number of pilots to get back to business."

Grey said about 80 to 90 percent of general aviation, including flight training schools, had already been back in the skies previous to the latest lifting of restrictions by the FAA.

The action allows pilots in the 12 cities to resume flying under what are known as visual flight rules, in which the pilot is low enough in the sky in good weather to navigate by landmarks on the ground and is not required to file a flight plan, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Away from the major airports, pilots usually don't talk to controllers. About 90 percent of all private planes fly under visual flight rules.

Dot Stewart, who owns Aviator's, a North Las Vegas plane rental company, was cautiously optimistic about the lifting of the ban.

"This brings all my (plane) renters back," she said. "That's a money-maker. That's revenue. Those guys will come back now again, thank God."

But Stewart said, "It's going to take awhile until things are back to normal." She was forced to take on a night job after the attacks to pay her bills, she said. Also today, the airspace over Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco reopened to most private planes.

Other metropolitan areas will be reopened over the next two days beginning at 7 a.m. EDT each day. On Tuesday, Denver, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Diego will reopen and on Wednesday, Chicago and Orlando, Fla.

"This is very good news for general aviation pilots," AOPA spokesman Warren Morningstar said. "We're going to continue to work to see if we can get the remaining restrictions modified consistent with our national security concerns."

In Boston, New York and Washington, pilots must continue to file flight plans with the Federal Aviation Administration. In those cases, air traffic controllers are responsible for keeping pilots away from other planes. All private plane flights are banned within 20 miles of Kennedy Airport in New York and Reagan National Airport near Washington. Seventeen small airports in those areas remain closed.

The ban also continues on foreign-owned private planes, unless they are registered in Canada or Mexico, flying into the United States. And news helicopters and blimps still can't fly within 30 metropolitan areas.

Private planes flying under visual flight rules must have transponders, which allow air traffic controllers to track the aircraft, or must obtain a waiver from the FAA. While flying within 23 miles of 30 major airports, including the 12 in the metropolitan areas opening to all private planes this week, the pilots also must monitor a specific radio frequency.

Sun reporters Mathis Winkler and Jeffrey Libby contributed to this story.