Las Vegas Runway Assignments

[Airbus 14]

For those of you familiar with the Las Vegas airport operations, what are the normal takeoff and landing runways? Does the wind direction and speed have anything to do with runway assignments? Under what conditions do aircraft use 1R/1L and 19L/19R?During taxi why won't ATC allow me to use 1R or 1L when the wind clearly favors the use of those runways?Thanks!Airbus

[Guest Silver1SWA]

I know this isn't much of a technical answer to normal airport ops. at McCarran Intl., but I can give some observations I have gathered from trips to Vegas. I have flown into vegas 4 times. The first two times, I flew in around 11 PM and both times, we landed on 19L or 19R...can't remember which. The majority of the traffic I saw coming in after we had landed were using Runways 25L/R. My third time to Vegas was sometime in the afternoon and we landed on 25L(not that time of day has anything to do with it...). The majority of the time, based on my observations while in Vegas, it seems 25R and 25L are in use, at least during the summer. However, this past summer I flew in around 8 PM and we landed on 1R. This was the first time I had ever seen Runways 1L and 1R in use. I also remember 7L/R being used on that same night. From what I'm gathering, it is very unpredictable. Haha it's a pain in the butt trying to pick which side of the plane to sit to give you the best view of the strip on approach (I fly SWA a lot). I always like landing on 19L/R because they run parallel with the strip. Anyway, you see many things going on at McCarran Intl. Often more than one side of the airport will be in use simultaneously...from what I have observed. Also, you may see the commercial aircraft using 25L/R, while these unmarked 737s use 19L/R. Anyone know whats up with these unmarked 737-200s at McCarran? I have heard many things ranging from training aircraft, to government aircraft flying to Area 51. LOL

[Guest P3_Super_Bee]

"Janet Airlines" would be those White w/ red striped B732s and yes that is what they are there for. Employee shuttle to Area 51. EG&G owns the terminal that is used. On you next trip out if you get a reg number off of them. A little search shows that the aircraft are owned by the US Air Force.

http://www.area51zone.com/janet.shtml

:-outta

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[01pewterz28 117]

Normal Operations for Vegas are 25L for landing, 25R for departures.and 19's running both landing and departing flights. JohnP4 2.53Ghz, ASUS P4S8X Mobo, 512Mb Ram PC2700, G4 MX 440 AGP, SB Live, Win98SE, (2) 80GM Maxtor 7200 RPM drives.

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