AS YOU MAY have heard and seen lately, the Federal Aviation Administration is considering significant changes to the take-off patterns from McCarran International Airport. The City Council of the city of Las Vegas successfully requested that the comment period of the process be extended.

The mayor and Councilman Steve Wolfson invited members of the community with expertise in the aviation to provide information to the council as well as assist in the evaluation of the FAA plan. The Planning and Development department of the city provided statistical information and research.

The city of Las Vegas provided the following comments addressing areas of key concern to the FAA and is hopeful that the proposed plan will be rejected:

SAFETY

• All departure procedures are designed to avoid highly dense population centers. The proposed flight path change directs flights from a less populated area of the Las Vegas Valley to a highly-populated area which is essentially the heart of the City.
• The proposed flight path change directs air carrier aircraft "belly up" in a continuous turn into the same airspace utilized by recreational and general aviation planes from the North Las Vegas Air Terminal (the second busiest airport in Nevada), military flight operations from Nellis Air Force Base, emergency helicopter operations (Flight for Life), and incoming flights into McCarran, preventing visual contact.
• The Department of Homeland Security removed Las Vegas from its list of top 35 cities for terrorist risk. Removal from the list eliminates a large portion of federal anti-terrorism funding to enhance security measures in the community. Terrorists may see the proposed flight path change with aircraft full of fuel on take-off as an opportunity to affect a large number of citizens in a single incident in a town considered as a symbol of America and contrary to their beliefs.
• The dispersal pattern of the proposed flight path change affects seven hospitals including the University Medical Center, the valley's major trauma center and recipient of frequent emergency helicopter traffic versus one hospital in the current flight path.
• Numerous high occupancy buildings lie directly beneath the proposed flight path. An accidental or deliberate crash of an aircraft full of fuel into one of these buildings would result in a catastrophic loss of life, and property.

• The proposed flight path change directs flights over an area in the city of Las Vegas with a density of 13.1 persons per acre compared to 6.9 persons citywide and 2.6 countywide.
• The proposed flight path change directs flights over nearly 20,000 homes versus 1,525 homes in the current flight path. Due to the variance in departure flight paths, over 180,000 homes would be affected versus an estimated 25,000 homes in the current flight path. In addition, over 450,000 residents would be affected versus approximately 60,000 residents in the current flight path taking into consideration the flight path dispersion.
• The proposed flight path change impacts some of the city's most densely populated, low-income, minority residents. The minority population in the proposed flight path is 31.3% versus 23.9% in the current flight path. Approximately 42.8% of the households in the proposed flight path are below the median household income versus 9% in the current flight path.
• The proposed flight path change affects approximately 92 schools as compared to eight currently affected under the existing flight path.

• Increased use of the north/south runways for departures,
• Spread out flights during peak departure times to avoid delays,
• Possible re-examination of the Four Corner-Post Plan with a focus on departing aircraft away from populated areas and avoiding environmental injustices,
• Providing an additional left hand alternative such as turning aircraft south, but on new routes, which would maximize the airspace near Durango and Blue Diamond or
• Hiring additional air traffic controllers to manage the increase in flight traffic