Nellis looks to keep its takeoff area safe

Mathis Winkler

Wednesday, March 13, 2002 | 10:37 a.m.

On busy days, roaring fighter jets carrying bombs take off every few minutes from Nellis Air Force Base.

"This is where we certify to say we're ready to go to war," Col. Del Eulberg, Nellis' installation commander, said.

But just beyond the base's runway to the north -- where the danger of an accident is highest -- lie 417 acres of privately owned desert. Base officials worry that the explosive growth in the Las Vegas Valley might push developers to build there someday.

The officials plan to buy the land to ensure that planes carrying munitions can continue to take off from the base.

"We have to protect the north," Eulberg said. "You take away our ability to launch and recover aircraft with live ordnance, and our ability to do our mission goes away."

Congress has already set aside $19 million for the purchase.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who pushed for the money, according to Eulberg, believes protecting the base's operations is a matter of national security.

"Nellis is one of the few places in the world that the Air Force can train in real-life situations that prepare them for battle," Nathan Naylor, the senator's spokesman, said.

Training at Nellis "very much does save lives oversees" and at home, he said.

The Bureau of Land Management is set to acquire additional land in the area should the money set aside in Congress run out.

"As long as the BLM owns (the land), we don't have to worry about somebody putting a McDonald's there," Eulberg said.

A public comment period on an environmental assessment of the proposal ended Feb. 24. Base officials will have the land appraised in the coming months to begin negotiations with the land owners, who seem willing to sell, Eulberg said.

Eulberg hopes to close the deals within 18 months. The sooner the better, he said, since land prices keep rising.

While county laws severely restrict the kind of development that can take place on the land, there's no guarantee the laws won't change in the future, Eulberg said.

In 1948, when the base began operations, no one foresaw that the valley's growth would one day creep close enough to threaten operations.

But a look at the southern end of the base reveals a cluster of commercial areas and apartment complexes. That growth forced the Air Force to cease takeoffs of planes carrying munitions there in the early 1990s, Eulberg said.

With the Las Vegas Beltway scheduled to come near the base by the end of this year, land in the area will become more attractive to developers, he added.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Air Force officials want to be good neighbors, Eulberg said.

"But the last thing the U.S. Air Force wants is an accident to happen and we lose the life of a citizen that we've sworn to defend," he said.

So far, jets have taken off without incident from the base. But in the mid-1960s a plane on its approach to landing at Nellis crashed into a North Las Vegas neighborhood, said aviation historian Doug Scroggins.

And planes with engine problems have jettisoned bombs in the past. In October 2000 an A-10 aircraft dropped two 2,000-pound bombs about 17 miles north of the base, causing one of the bombs to explode.

While the bombs are not armed until pilots reach the test range about 65 miles northwest, Eulberg said, they can explode upon impact with the ground.

"It's like dropping a gun," he said. "Eight times out of 10, it will not go off." But there is always a chance that it will, he added.