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

FMI: www.mccarran.com/ga_nlv.asp,www.eaa.org, www.ntsb.gov