Pilots association plans meeting on airport safety

By Mary Manning

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | 11:05 a.m.

The Clark County Aviation Association board will meet at 6 p.m. today to discuss airport safety in the wake of two fatal plane crashes near the North Las Vegas Airport in less than a week.

The pilots association scheduled a board meeting after about 50 neighbors of the North Las Vegas Airport gathered in a church Wednesday, said David Lerner, who is president of the association.

The two crashes -- the first on Aug. 22 involving an experimental airplane that crashed into a house, killing three, and the second, a Piper Navajo Chieftain, which also crashed into a house Aug. 28, killing the pilot -- have raised concerns among the public and aviation experts.

Lerner said growth encroaching near airports has been a concern, and not just at the North Las Vegas Airport, which opened on Dec. 7, 1941.

"Our concerns include the Henderson Airport as well," Lerner said, pointing to the growth of apartments, homes and businesses near Lake Mead Drive and Las Vegas Boulevard South, where the Henderson Executive Airport is located.

Lerner noted that National Transportation Safety Board records from 1982 through now show 37 accidents over those 26 years. Of that total, eight were fatal, killing 18 people.

Clark County Aviation Director Randall Walker said he plans to meet with state and federal officials and elected representatives to explore ways to make airports safer, including more local control of air traffic. Current aircraft operations are governed by federal rules.

Walker is not planning to attend tonight's meeting, a spokesman for the Clark County Department of Aviation said. A county aviation representative will attend the meeting, but isn't planning to speak, the spokesman said.