Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Pilots eager for upgrade

The North Las Vegas Airport could see about 20 percent more takeoffs and landings annually if a system that helps pilots land in bad weather is installed next year, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report.

Although Southern Nevada weather gets bad enough to require the instrument landing system only a few times a year, the system would be used often for training, officials said. That training will boost the flights into and out of the airport.

For those working out of the airport, the proposed technology seems to be nothing but good news. But some elected officials are worried about the effect the added flights might have on surrounding neighborhoods.

Installation of the instrument landing system, which will include a 50-foot antenna, could begin in April, and the system could be operating as early as September, North Las Vegas Airport Manager Duane Busch said. The system works by relaying information about an approaching plane's alignment with the runway into the cockpit, which enables the pilot to land the plane when visibility is poor.

An FAA Draft Environmental Assessment report says the system could lead to 50,000 more takeoffs and landings at the airport annually, though Busch said the increase probably will be closer to 25,000. The airport is projected to have about 220,000 takeoffs and landings this year, he said.

"There's going to be more aircraft in the air, but they'll have a fairly high approach and I doubt there will be much of a noise impact," Busch said. Also, the airport caters to smaller, mostly single-engine planes, which are quieter than larger planes, he said.

Public and government agencies' comments on the FAA report are due by Wednesday, after which the FAA will prepare a Final Environmental Assessment report on the proposed installation of the system at the airport.

If the final report says the addition of the system will have no significant negative impact on the area, then construction of the instrument landing system can begin, Clark County Department of Aviation Airport Planning Manager Dennis Mewshaw said.

The draft report says the system would have no significant impact on the area, and Mewshaw said he expects the final report will come to the same conclusion.

But North Las Vegas Councilwoman Stephanie Smith and Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, whose districts include the airport, said they are concerned about the potential effect increased air traffic could have on their constituents.

"I haven't heard anything about it," Smith said. "I will have to find out if it will make things safer or whether the increased traffic would make things worse. It could impact the neighbors."

"My No. 1 concern would be that of the neighbors," Atkinson Gates said. She, too, was unaware of plans for an instrument landing system at the airport.

Plans for the system have been a part of the County Department of Aviation's master plan since at least 1997, Mewshaw said.

The system will cost about $500,000 to install and bring online and will be paid for with federal funds approved a couple of years ago, Mewshaw said.

Department officials looked into placing such a system at the airport in Henderson, but there were air space problems between that airport and McCarran International Airport, he said.

McCarran already has an instrument landing system, but that airport is so busy with commercial air traffic that there isn't much, if any, time to train there, Mewshaw said.

In the past, local pilots also trained on the instrument landing system at Nellis Air Force Base. But Nellis is no longer an option for private pilots because of national security issues, Busch said.

So now pilots fly to California or Utah airports to practice using an instrument landing system. Pilots who want to be certified to fly in conditions that require the use of an instrument landing system are required to train on or use the system periodically, Mewshaw said.

"Really, this will be another service feature for our customers in the valley," Busch said.

"It's very good news," said Lori Cook, co-owner of First Flight Aviation, a flight school at the airport. "It'll make for safer approaches in bad weather and help with training."

"Now we have a tough time training doing an ILS approach," said Steve Krueger, pilot of two corporate planes based at the airport and a part-time flight instructor. "We have to either get up at 4 a.m. when McCarran isn't so busy -- or go to Victorville (Calif.), or Palmdale (Calif.), or Cedar City (Utah)."

Krueger said those airports are at least an hour away by plane.

"But now we'll be able to do our training at North Las Vegas," he said. "It's going to have a vast training benefit. It's hard to imagine any aspect of this would not be positive."

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