Faa

I. Factual Background

This case involves the flight departure paths from one of the runways at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. 7066 CITY OF LAS VEGAS v. FAA There are two sets of parallel runways at the airport: one set oriented from east to west (7L/R and 25L/R) and one set ori- ented from north to south (1L/R and 19L/R). Most of the planes depart to the west and to the south due to prevailing winds, but many of those flights are bound for destinations to the east. Prior to 2001, more than 60% of eastbound flights departing to the west from Runway 25R flew west for some time and then turned to the right over the territory to the north of the airport.

In 2001, the FAA issued a FONSI/ROD to implement a new plan — “the Four Corner Post Plan” — that directed approximately 95% of the flights departing westward from Runway 25R but heading to the east to turn left over the terri- tory to the south of the airport. The remaining 5% of the flights still turned right and completed the turn in the north- erly direction, following a slightly different path from that taken before. According to the petitioners, this new plan was an improvement over the earlier…