By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Residents came together after two plane crashes happened in neighborhoods just like theirs. The neighbors have been concerned for years and while they all knowingly moved in next to the North Las Vegas Airport, now that two planes crashed into neighboring homes they are even more scared for their safety.
Three were killed in the first crash and only the pilot died in the second. In all, three homes were damaged or destroyed.
A lot of neighbors, and some pilots have complaints about the Clark County Department of Aviation. Yes, the airport was in place before the homes, but why was it allowed to grow so much? The meeting was designed to bring issues to the table and work on finding solutions.
These are the risks of having a busy airport in your backyard - a plane making an emergency landing on your street, or worse yet, a plane crashing right into your home.
A meeting on the North Las Vegas Airport sparked some fireworks. The group is aptly-named “Not Tonight! The North Las Vegas Airport Gave Me a Headache.”
“We've had 66 incidents as verified by Forbes Magazine, again making us the most dangerous airport in the nation,” said Ed Gobel with Not Tonight.
Neighbors sounded off about their pains. “They fly very close sometimes. You can give them a cup of coffee almost, that's how close. You can make out their faces,” said Sharon Gobel.
Sharon is concerned about her children's safety, “I get a little worried if they're going outside and playing. And my daughter's school is less than a block away from us.”
The most common complaint is planes flying too low above homes. And with two different planes falling from the sky down onto homes in less than a week, Marcus Gobel is living in fear and worried about his kids, “We say, ‘Hi.' to the people in the planes going by almost every single day.”
The pilots had their say, too. “I've got to say some things because I'm sitting here listening to this and I'm trying to keep my blood pressure down,” said Ed Smith. “They are a lot higher than you think they are.”
It's a complex issue that's gotten bigger over the years, but something everyone in this room has an opinion on.
“It's like having a little cottage behind your house, and all of a sudden having a huge mega-resort behind your house. That's what it's like and nobody listens to you,” said Ditty Markoff.
Email your comments to Reporter Aaron Drawhorn
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I live at Cheyenne and Allen, less than 5 min walk from the airport. I come from Chicago, and to hear everyone complain about an airport that they choose to live near is ridiculous. You knew the city was growing when you bought your home, common sense would have told you that the airport would also grow. I agree that experimental planes should not be flown over a big city, but as for student flyers as long as they are with an instructor it should be fine. To be honest the drivers in this city are way more scary than the planes over head. How many people are dying from car accidents in a month.
To make a long post short. Deal with it. The airport was here first and if you didn’t think it would grow…well, Common sense just isn’t that common anymore I guess.
Also when I bought my home I had to sign a paper because I bought a home so close to the airport, didn’t everyone? And if they did, why are they complaining now.
Comment by Rebecca — September 8, 2008 @ 7:48 pm