AWARENESS ADVISORY
North Town 2 Departure
Fly this Departure Precisely
The North Las Vegas, NV airport has had over 80 pilot deviations over the last two years. All have been on the “North Town 2” Standard Instrument Departure (SID).
The Las Vegas valley has four airports. The Las Vegas McCarran International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the nation. Nellis Air Force base is also one of the busiest military air bases. Add general aviation Henderson Executive and North Las Vegas airports, and you have a very high volume traffic area and little airspace to maneuver: over one million operations per year. It is imperative that the North Town 2 departure be flown, “as published”, to avoid loss of separation from other Las Vegas area airspace users.
There is nothing remarkable about this departure. Most deviations have occurred simply because of inadequate pre-flight planning and briefing. You must be prepared to fly the departure “as published” precisely. If you are going to fly out of the North Las Vegas Airport, under normal circumstances, you can expect ATC to issue this departure “as published”. Radar vectors are not used.
All turns are right turns, except the initial slight left turn off runway 30.
A prudent, proficient, well prepared pilot is no accident. In the case of pilot airspace deviations, “what happens in Vegas, doesn’t stay in Vegas”. Don’t gamble with inadequate flight planning! Don’t raise the question: “if this pilot cannot fly a departure precisely, what else can’t he fly”?
Be prepared to fly the entire procedure precisely!
See the AWARENESS ADVISORY at the following URL:
https://www.faasafety.gov/files/notices/2011/Apr/VGT_Awareness_Poster.pdf
