Someone Seems To Be Looking For Their 15 Minutes of
Fame...
News and Analysis By Jim Campbell, ANN/Aero-TV
Editor-In-Chief
Following the tragic fatal crash of a Velocity 173RG in
Las Vegas, NV, a local official from the Clark County
Aviation Authority is grabbing some headlines. The Aviation
Director, Randy Walker (pictured right), is apparently calling for
the banishment of experimental aircraft from the North Las Vegas
Airport -- which is supposed to be a "reliever" for the even busier
Las Vegas International Airport (McCarran), to the South.
Despite the fact that there is a long history of problems
revolving around Las Vegas Airports, for a number of reasons,
Walker is reacting to the one accident that occurred this week as
the specific reason to forbid the flying of experimental-amateur
built aircraft from "busier" airports, (often surrounded by
extensive real estate development... and despite the fact that the
airports are usually in place long before said development takes
place).
Mind you, this stance is taking place long before the NTSB has
had a chance to seek any real answers to the causes of the accident
and offer any potential remedies to see that such accidents, might
be mitigated in the future.
Walker is playing up to local media with his request for such a
ban... "I think the regulatory process on airport systems need to
be revisited in the coming weeks. I am going to ask to meet with
the members of our congressional delegation to see if something can
be done."
Walker has also publicly commented that he considers flight
training and "solo flying" to be "high-risk" activities, as
well.
Interviews with local media indicate that Walker is seeking to
limit experimental aircraft from being 'allowed at any of the inner
city airports but rather be kept to rural airports where the
population is less dense.'
Walker apparently has neglected to mention that accidents like
the one that took place this week are exceptionally rare and that
the size (Mass/Inertia) and fuel loads of most experimental
aircraft make them less likely to be as damaging as the larger
aircraft (upon impact) that often use the airports he seeks to ban
them from... or that far more loss of life and property damage
occurs due to the mechanical failure or driver misguidance of a
number of ground vehicles. Further; he failed to note that the
Velocity aircraft involved in this week's accident, is one of the
most highly regarded aircraft currently available to the
experimental-amateur built market.
Walker may be looking for a convenient scapegoat... Last year, a
published report by Forbes ranked KVGT/North Las Vegas Airport as
the most dangerous airport in the nation -- though a number of
aviation industry personnel disputed that ranking. Published
reports indicated that the airport totaled 63 runway incursions
between 2001 and the publication date of the 2007 report, and that
six deaths resulted.
Editorial Note: At a time when aviation is
taking more (IMO) than its fair share of hard knocks in the media,
it sure seems a shame that someone from our own ranks would seek to
be so divisive/damaging -- and long before any real facts might
have been made available to support his argument (like, for
instance, an NTSB final report). We're more than a little
unimpressed with the position Walker has taken and find significant
fault with his current arguments. We hope that cooler heads will
prevail when the shock of this tragedy has worn off and that real
evidence becomes the primary consideration.
Worse... we were singularly unimpressed with
the local CBS affiliate's myopic and selectively alarmist
report on experimental aircraft... which seemed
tailor-made to create misimpressions of the safety and
airworthiness of such aircraft. Particularly questionable was their
selective interpretation of some remarks on the local EAA web site
and their apparent insinuation that Experimental aircraft are more
susceptible to density altitude issues than certified aircraft.
Yeesh. -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C
NTSB Final Report: Cozy Cub
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