GINA B. GOOD / PVT Wednesday, bicycle riders by the dozens from Rosemary Clarke Middle School ride home together after school to acknowledge International Walk to School Day. Members of the Nye County Sheriff?s Office and parents escorted the students. RELATED STORY Airports benefit Nye Advertisement

Fifty-two youngsters got free rides in small planes during the annual Young Eagles Fly-In held last Saturday at Calvada Meadows Airstrip.

While the long planning process continues for the planned Pahrump Airport at the southwest end of the valley, private airstrips function almost unseen to many ordinary residents who aren't into aviation.

The Calvada Meadows Airstrip is owned by 364 owners who pay $180 per year to belong to the Calvada Meadows Aeropark Association, a homeowners group.

Stan Davis, vice-president of the association and the contact for pilots who want to land at the airstrip, said there are an average of 10 takeoffs and landings per day.

"There are approximately 50 aircraft based here. You can't see all of them because they're in hangars. Some of them are not even flyable. They're in pieces and parts with expectation someday they'll be built. I would say there are 35 to 40 flyable planes based here. There are also people who fly in here as guests," Davis said.

When pilots request permission to land, Davis advises them there's no fuel available, tells them the length of runway, where the transit parking is located and other useful information.

"A lot of them come in who do not bother calling in advance. They're in violation, but there's nothing we can do about it other than to say, 'You take off and land here at your own risk,'" Davis said.

Calvada Meadows has a 4,100-foot airstrip, with no crosswind airstrip for an alternative when weather conditions are poor. But Davis said the northwest to southwest orientation of the runway generally corresponds to the prevailing winds.

"We've had Lear Jet and Cessna Citations in here as long as the pilot really knows what he's doing. You have to put it right on the numbers," Davis said.

The Pahrump Regional Planning Commission will consider a request to rezone 150 acres of the airpark from open use to VR-20, a village residential zone, with an airport overlay to accommodate the hangars residents have in their back yards and fronting on the airstrip.

The airpark was one of the problem areas referred to a comprehensive rezoning task force by Hogle-Ireland consultants, who drew up the Pahrump zoning map in June 2007, but the task force was unable to come up with a solution.

Another attempt will be made before the RPC Wednesday to rezone acreage on Jenny Circle, at the western end of the airstrip.

In April 2007, county commissioners rejected an attempt by Western Wings Ltd. to rezone 39.3 acres fronting on the airstrip as light industrial to provide aircraft support services and warehousing. Members of the association said they weren't properly notified. Commissioner Joni Eastley reminded the audience it was a private airstrip.

The Calvada Meadows airstrip also was mentioned during a contentious hearing Sept. 16, 2008, on the development agreement for the federal detention center nearby on East Mesquite Avenue.

Phil Shellenberger, at that time the vice-president of the Calvada Meadows Aeropark Association and now the president, had concerns over interruptions to their flight pattern with the detention center nearby. He also wanted Corrections Corporation of America to provide a "hold harmless" agreement to his association in the event an escaped prisoner hijacks a plane.

For the record, Davis said his association wouldn't allow CCA to use the airstrip for flying prisoners in and out. "We would fight them tooth and nail," he said.

The Calvada Meadows airstrip is one of a handful of private Pahrump airports that are registered with the Federal Aviation Administration. The others include:

* The CAAS Airport, on CAAS Road just off Highway 160 at the south end of Pahrump. It is owned by Hans Paul Christensen. CAAS Road itself stands for Christensen Aerial Application Service, which formerly served valley farms.

* Valley View Airport is located just south of Calvada Meadows Airstrip between Bell Vista Avenue and Blosser Ranch Road. It's owned by Robert Bieganski.

* The Flying S Ranch Ultralight Airport at 1451 E. Fort Churchill Road, farther north than Calvada Meadows Airstrip, is owned by ex-Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss.

Davis said Fleiss bought the property that was formerly owned by Vic Spanowski, a local helicopter and ultralight pilot who moved to Tucumcari, N.M., in September 2007.

* Mercy Air Heliport is used by the air ambulance service at Pahrump Medical Center on Calvada Boulevard.

* The Precious Materials Heliport is located on 10 acres off North Highway 160.

An airstrip at the Chicken Ranch brothel closed about 15 years ago, Davis said. Occasionally aircraft land at Spring Mountain Motor Sports, he said.

The Calvada Meadows Airstrip is seen as too small to function as a public airport for Pahrump. Davis said if East Bell Vista Avenue were blocked off, or an underpass constructed, a runway could be extended onto Bieganski's Valley View Airport. That would have to be something the 345 property owners would have to agree is worthwhile, he said.

The plans for the future Pahrump Airport call for a 5,000-foot runway during phase I. During phase II it would be extended to 6,000 feet.