Helicopter test flights muted

Dan Kulin and Launce Rake

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

Helicopter test flights Thursday disappointed some Henderson residents concerned about the effect new flight paths would have on their neighborhood.

The test flights did not cause significant noise in Henderson's Anthem community -- but some residents fear the test flights didn't reflect where the helicopters will eventually fly.

The flights were intended to show Anthem residents they won't hear helicopters flying from a proposed heliport in Sloan to the Grand Canyon. But the leaders of a citizens group called the test inconclusive because the helicopters flew a route on the far side of a mountain range instead of a closer route on the Anthem side of the mountains, which had been shown during public hearings as the possible flight path.

Clark County Aviation Department officials and a helicopter tour company owner said the more southern route flown Thursday would be the flight path used by the helicopters if a regional heliport is built at the Go Kart track in Sloan.

Gregg Rochna, president of Maverick Helicopter Tours, said the southern flight path is the one he and other tour operators want to fly and has already been approved by the FAA.

Aviation Department Principal Planner Jeffrey Jacquart said the FAA would not have to approve the route used Thursday, and he said the county would make using that flight path a condition of any permit for helicopter companies using a Sloan heliport.

Jacquart said the northern route closer to Anthem was used for study purposes to measure the possible impact on residents but "was not an actual flight path."

The Thursday tests appeared to successfully show the helicopters wouldn't be heard in Anthem if they flew the southern route.

The data from three sound-level monitors placed around Anthem during the tests wasn't available Thursday, but at least one of the monitors didn't detect any noise from the helicopters. The sound monitor set up at the Revere at Anthem Golf Club pointed toward the McCullough Mountain Range where from 11 to about 11:30 a.m. three helicopters appeared in the horizon, looking like tiny black mosquitos in the clear blue sky.

But the leaders of a Sun City Anthem citizens group called Stop Helicopters Over Urban Territory -- SHOUT -- criticized the tests and reiterated their belief some county officials have already settled on the Sloan site.

"I'm very disappointed with the way this test was conducted," said Favil West, a member of the Sun City Anthem homeowner's association board, co-chair of SHOUT and retired commercial pilot who flew in one of the helicopters.

"The flight paths followed by the test helicopters were considerably to the south of where we've been told the copters will fly if the new heliport is placed at the Go Kart/Sloan site," West said in a statement. "I asked several times why the test flights were not being flown along the expected paths, and no one could give me a straight answer."

Hilarie Grey, an aviation department spokeswoman, said the route flown Thursday was the path that helicopters would take if Sloan is ultimately selected as the heliport location.

"For tour purposes, they want to get out and see the wilderness and the sights," she said, including the dramatic landscape of the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

"The impetus behind it was to take the helicopter noise away from future residences," Grey said.

That is also the reason why county officials are looking for a place to put a regional heliport.

The State Legislature is requiring Clark County look for a nonurban location to put a heliport that ideally would become a home base for Grand Canyon tour helicopters. Daily helicopter flights now fly over densely populated parts of Tropicana Avenue and Charleston Boulevard.

"Those people are getting slammed every day," Rochna said. "There's 100,000 people affected."

After months of study that started with 13 potential locations, the Aviation Department determined the Sloan site would be best. Possible sites in Jean and Boulder City's Eldorado Valley were also identified as suitable locations, but considered too far away from the Strip.

More than 1,200 Anthem residents turned out for an early January public meeting to protest the Sloan site, prompting County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury to ask that the department look south of Sloan for other land that might be suitable.

Dick Sovde, also a member of the homeowner's association board and co-chairman of SHOUT, said in a statement he believes the selection process lacks proper deliberation.

"This has all the signs of the proverbial 'done deal,"' Sovde said.

The property for the proposed heliport in Sloan was purchased by the county over the summer. Some citizens say that shows the decision to put the heliport there has already been made, but Aviation Department officials said they purchased the property because it was available. If the heliport is to be placed somewhere else, the county could easily sell the land, officials said.

West and Sovde said they urged the County Commission to postpone a scheduled Feb. 3 vote on identifying a potential regional heliport site.

A public hearing on the location of a new regional heliport is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at the County Government Center.

The proposed Sloan heliport is also drawing criticism from federal officials, environmentalists and Native American representatives, who fear the flights would disrupt the Sloan conservation area, created by congressional action in 2002.

Charles Carroll, BLM manager for the conservation area, was near a site of protected petroglyphs when the test flights flew nearby. Although the flights were on the other side of the mountain from the ancient petroglyphs, "the sound was noticeable," he said.

"It was not ear-splitting, but it we could hear it," Carroll said. "We're not without air traffic sounds during the day, but this would, like, triple it."

John Hiatt, a community and environmental activist, said the impact on the conservation area, its wildlife and its cultural resources could be huge.

"If it's one helicopter, that's no big deal," he said. "If it's a helicopter every three minutes, that is a big deal."

Hiatt said helicopter pilots like to show their tours animals and special spots like the petroglyphs.

"What it is, is entertainment for the tourists," he said. "They can harass wildlife, and they are doing it."

"I see having those guys anywhere around there is a major problem," he said.

Kenny Anderson, cultural representative for the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe and a member of the BLM's resource advisory committee, said his tribe and other American Indian groups have sacred sites in the conservation area, including the petroglyph site.

"The basic concern from the elders is that the experience of being out there would be destroyed," Anderson said. "Plus the constant vibration from the helicopter flights could damage the petroglyphs.

"It would be like flying over a church," he said.

Phil Guerrero, BLM spokesman, said his agency is "gravely concerned about the impact 300 takeoffs and landings might have on an area classified as wilderness," a federal designation for areas mostly unaffected by human contact.

But the BLM will not have the final word on the issue.

"We really don't have any authority to dictate the route of air travel," he said. "We certainly prefer they not overfly the petroglyph site and the wilderness area."

Grey said the airport would have to take such factors into account because a full environmental assessment would have to be done before the flight path would come into regular use.

"There is a whole environmental review process that will have to happen if that site is designated by the county commissioners."

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