Learning to fly: Jets coming to Las Vegas Spaceport
Operators of the Las Vegas Spaceport project are acquiring two fighter training jets to help train future pilots in its STEM Academy and for a space basic training camp for adults.
Spaceport CEO Rob Lauer said the company is acquiring two L-29 training jets from an East Coast flight school that will cost about $200,000 each with planned modifications.
Lauer said the jets are in escrow and should be ready to fly next month in time for air races scheduled in October at a site that has yet to be announced. Lauer said he hopes to have details on air races later this month.
L-29s, which have been used as a training aircraft by the U.S. Navy, had been used primarily by the former Soviet Union to train pilots.
More than 3,500 L-29s were produced between 1963 and 1974 by Czech aircraft manufacturer Aero Vodochody. The two-seat aircraft is ideal for training with its clear canopy.
Lauer said the planes initially are expected to be flown to, serviced and parked at North Las Vegas Airport.
He said the two jets are the first of several the company plans to buy.
Among the components of the planned spaceport on 240 acres in Clark County southwest of Las Vegas are an academy for aviation and engineering for pilots who would fly the spaceplanes of the future.
Lauer’s longterm vision for the Spaceport is for it to serve as a staging area for space tourism for planes that can take off, achieve orbit and drop off passengers to orbiting space hotels.
Lauer said night flying over the desert is one of the closest things to simulating space travel.
Retired Air Force Col. Cameron Dadgar, a 25-year Air Force F-16 pilot, is expected to guide Spaceport training and also is expected to fly one of the L-29 jets at upcoming air races.
“Thus far, bureaucratic delays have caused all our major challenges to the timing of our operations and event planning,” Lauer said in a release.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.