Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nellis reviews plan to install landing system at airport

A proposal to install a system that helps pilots land in bad weather at the North Las Vegas Airport is on hold while Nellis Air Force Base officials review how the projected increase in air traffic would affect Nellis air space.

"We want to work with North Las Vegas and the FAA to make sure both of their needs are met," Nellis spokesman Master Sgt. Richard Covington said. "It's a concern to us because of the increased number of airplanes."

A Federal Aviation Administration report says adding an Instrument Landing System at the airport could increase takeoffs and landings there by 20 percent. The landing system is not expected to be needed often to guide pilots to the runway in bad weather. Officials say the system would primarily be used to train pilots.

In 2002 there were about 218,000 takeoffs or landings at the airport. Nellis air traffic controllers are involved with about 40,000 North Las Vegas flights a year, Covington said.

Covington said Nellis officials were still reviewing the proposed addition of the landing system. He would not say whether Nellis officials are leaning toward supporting the addition of the system at this time.

FAA spokesman Donn Walker would not say whether objections from Air Force officials would scuttle the proposal.

"But we would have to take another look at this," he said.

The proposal has drawn fire from some airport neighbors unhappy with the possibility of increased air traffic over or near their homes. Some took particular exception with the FAA's conclusion in an October draft environmental assessment report that stated the installation of the system would have no significant negative impact on the area.

FAA officials are waiting for the comments from Nellis officials before completing the final draft of the environmental assessment report. Once that report is done, and if it concludes the landing system would not have a significant negative impact on the area, installation of the system could begin.

Mike Loghides, an airport program administrator for the Clark County Department of Aviation who specializes in air space issues, said the addition of the landing system will produce more work for the Nellis air traffic controllers. However, the increase will probably not be significant, he said.

"It will not overwhelm them," he said.

Most of the pilots training with the landing system, also known as an ILS, will not stray into Nellis air space, Loghides said.

Nellis air space boundaries are 2,500 feet above the North Las Vegas Airport, and about three or four miles away from the airport at lower altitudes, he said.

"The vast majority of those who will use the ILS will use it for practice and they will stay within 1,000 feet above the ground and so be controlled by the North Las Vegas tower," Loghides said. Also, most of those pilots will stay within three or so miles of the airport, he said.

"It's because these are student pilots who are paying by the hour, so they don't want to go too far out," he said.

Most of those student pilots currently have to go about 150 miles away to Barstow, Calif., to train on a landing system, Loghides said.

The roughly $500,000 needed to install the system at the airport has already been approved by Congress, he said.

Once construction begins, it could take four to six months to complete the landing system, which will include a 50-foot antenna.

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