Safety advocates to meet tonight about two Las Vegas airplane crashes

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008 | 12:26 p.m.

Las Vegas Plane Crash

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A plane crashed into a Las Vegas Valley home on Thursday for the second time in a week. Firefighters responded immediately to calls from citizens about a low-flying plane over Highway 95 that was on fire. The plane was heading to California.

Plane crash

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Pilot dies after plane crashes in Las Vegas neighborhood (8-28-2008)
Plane crash's victims were elderly couple (8-23-2008)

After two separate airplanes crashed into two homes, killing four people in less than a week, a citizens group concerned with safety plans to meet tonight.

Pilot William J. Leahy, Jr., 38, of Redwood City, Calif., died Thursday in a fiery crash after a Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, owned by Aeronet Supply of Gardena, Calif., went down after leaving North Las Vegas Airport.

Leahy was the only person aboard the aircraft and had no enforcement actions against him, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane did not have any reported accidents before it crashed into a North Jones Boulevard house, Gregor said after checking records.

Less than a week before, on Aug. 22, pilot Mack Creekmore Murphree, 75, of Dayton, Nev., crashed an experimental airplane into a house, killing himself and Jack and Lucy Costa who were inside the house.

The organization, Not Tonight! NLV Airport Gave Me a Headache, has scheduled a meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at the Advent United Methodist Church, 3460 N. Rancho Drive.

"We are going to make these lives our battle cry," said Linda West Myers, co-founder of Not Tonight! "We will bring everyone together and not stop until our neighborhood and NLV Airport live in a non-lethal, safe peaceful coexistence."

The group wants to bring private and commercial pilots, residents and business owners together to unite to find solutions to a safer North Las Vegas Airport.

"When the planes fly over my house and I can offer the pilots a cup of coffee, then I know they are flying too low, and one day I might return home and find my home and children on fire," said Sharon Gobel, mother of three small children.

Discussion: 1 comment so far…

By Doug_Rodrigues

9/3/08 at 10:52 p.m.

Suggest removal

Just my personal opinion…..Build another reliever airport away from town, and build that new airport first before closing North Las Vegas Airport. Only, this time not allow spreading new housing to be built on the approach and departure end of the major runway! Leave a slot of open area in the form of parks or natural area. Of course I won't hold my breath. Once the land developers get done pressuring the politicians, all bets are off and the problem will repeat itself. Just look at what's happening out at Henderson Airport now? People move to where the airport is, and then complain about the airport operations! Are people that stupid? Apparently so.

Such a safety slot area can be as narrow as 100 feet wide and one mile long. That would allow the aircraft to either gain enough altitude for a safe turn-around if needed, or an area to do a forced landing and not strike homes. The land developers will scream that somehow it would make development of homes unprofitable. We know that's a lie, but they'll say it anyway, just watch. Greed always seems to take precedence over the morality of safety issues. Just look at all of that housing surrounding North Las Vegas Airport now? That wasn't planning, that was stupidity!