What time zone is Jackpot Nevada in?

WELL, funny you should ask.

I'm trying to remember the facts around the situation. In 1992 there had been a huge earthquake (7.3) in Kyrgyzstan one of the Soviet satellite states. It had knocked down every building for miles around and killed a lot of people. The area was so devastated they were having a lot of trouble rebuilding.

This was in the era of the dissolution of the USSR, and the Cold War was still going on, especially in the minds of the military. There were no flights between the USA and the USSR yet, and borders were closely watched. In one of the breakthroughs of the New Order, the USSR decided to ask for US help in reconstructing the earthquake zone. There was a new, very large machine being built in Portland, OR, that created prefabricated building blocks quickly, affordably, and in great number. The Soviets had Antonov 124's, at the time the largest jets in the world, which were capable of flying those machines from Portland to the USSR. So the Soviets entered into an agreement to buy the machines directly from the US.

There was a lot of diplomacy and military planning that led up to that first flight direct from the USSR to the US. Everything was briefed, everybody knew the schedule and the protocol, and the military was standing by. Then, unexpectedly, a large bogie turned up on the radar the day before; the US went on red alert and the military scrambled fighter jet interceptors out from Elmendorf AFB, AK to investigate the target in person. It was an Antonov 124, which appeared to be on a route to the Northwest US. After a tense 90 minutes, escorting in a threatening position and attempting to raise the aircraft on frequencies, it turned out someone had forgotten to take into account that the mercy flight started on the other side of the International Date Line, and while they had departed exactly on schedule (their time) they were 24 hours early (our time).

The tension did not dissipate completely with that realization. This flight was unprecedented in aviation history and could still be some sort of Trojan Horse, arriving before the US forces were in place to defend against any false basis for this flight to occur. Portland's F15 interceptors scrambled also when the flight was about an hour out and relieved the Elmendorf birds. They trailed the Antonov, locked and loaded on it, all the way to the runway, where it landed without event (I was working Local ("tower") and gave them the clearance) with 4 Eagles in 2+2 formation behind and above; the Eagles did a low pass above the wings as the Antonov touched down. Wish we'd been allowed to take pictures.

The Antonov was escorted to the military ramp by jeeps mounted with machine guns and surrounded by Guard soldiers for over an hour while the aircraft was searched and the pilots interviewed. They were finally satisfied as to the legitimacy of the aircraft and intent, and things proceeded from there.

All that fuss over a clerical error of time.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Note the first line, indicating Mountain Time. (UTC-7)
http://aeronav.faa.gov/afd/29MAY2014/sw_277_29MAY2014.pdf

Your document which says Mountain Time is dated 29 May 2014

This document which says Pacific time has Data is effective: 29 May 2014 - 24 July 2014
https://nfdc.faa.gov/nfdcApps/airportLookup/airportDisplay.jsp?airportId=06U

Is there some way to know which is the final say of the Faa?
I called them and they said it is Mountain Time.

Paco,

Yes. The nfdc would be the ruling document if a legal determination had to be made, of the sort you seem to be asking about. The AFD, which is more accurate in most cases because the operators themselves report the information as it changes (as opposed to the newer compilation, which doesn't change unless someone proves an error), is a guide that has some disclaimers as to accuracy and timeliness. It is the most-used reference, by far, and covers about 25000 airports in 10 regional volumes.

The AFD is in some ways an obsolete document; the FAA is trying to move to all-digital access, and the nfdc is part of that reboot, as a mobile app. However, with the regulations and difficulty of accessing via cellphone/tablet from the air, most pilots still prefer the regional hard copy they can throw in their flight bag as a reference. It's in transition.

Quote: Pacomartin

Here is some more evidence
http://24timezones.com/usa_time/nv_elko/jackpot.htm

I just wrote to them to say they're wrong. They don't even have a listing for West Wendover, while they do have hundreds of other towns I've never heard of.

Paco,

Let me add this link:

https://skyvector.com/?ll=43.5849267488137,-112.407909337662&chart=10&zoom=

This is the FAA's VFR Sectional. If you zoom in on the intersection of Nevada, Idaho, and Utah, you will see a dotted line (offset from the state boundary but mirroring it, so you can see it) that indicates the FAA charts Jackpot in the Pacific Time Zone along with all of Nevada. Amusingly, the offset places the time zone boundary right through the middle of the runway.

Okay, I'll grant that the FAA evidence falls on Pacific time. However, I bet the people have Jackpot have about a thousand times more interaction with the Post Office than the Jackpot Airport. I'd challenge the other side to give me a scenario where the FAA's position on this might actually matter.

Regarding Wikipedia, my change to the Mountain Time Zone entry yesterday still stands, but somebody changed my entry for Jackpot back how it used to be. So, I changed it back again. For my own benefit, here is entry in Wikicode:

Jackpot is in the [[Mountain Standard Time Zone|Mountain Time Zone]]. The only portions of Nevada outside the Pacific Time Zone are Jackpot and [[West Wendover, Nevada|West Wendover]].

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have a ton of work to catch up on and am in a state of financial distress and this is my highest priority.

Anyway, I always put the truth first, so I must disclose some evidence that works against me.

nationalatlas.gov led me to this document by the Department of Transportation. On page 639 section 71.9 (a) it describes the Pacific/Mountain time zone border as following the northern boundary of Nevada and Idaho. No exception is mentioned for Jackpot, as there is for West Wendover in part (b). Here is a screenshot of the document.

Quote: Wizard

Regarding Wikipedia, my change to the Mountain Time Zone entry yesterday still stands, but somebody changed my entry for Jackpot back how it used to be. So, I changed it back again. .

You're playing a game that will get you banned
if you keep it up. Most Wiki pages have minders
that get an email when a change is made. I know
somebody who was expelled because he kept
changing a reality TV page.

Quote: beachbumbabs

So, my opinion after reading these along with your thread references is that Jackpot is officially in Pacific Time, but that Mountain Time is observed locally by wide convention.

I said this in the 2nd post in this thread. This
is quite common in towns close to time zone
lines.

I don't know why you guys are so wrapped up in the FAA's opinion. Have you seen that -ahem- airport? Take a look with a Google Satellite view.

That's a damn small airport. No concerns for schedules there.

But look. There is room for 26 small planes, but that lot is empty. Well, not empty, there are three cars in one of the spots.

For what it's worth, I didn't read any of those linked articles. But I gotta believe that the airlines use GMT for their scheduling systems, then convert the time to local time afterwards. That's the easiest way to deal with issues like changing time zones, as well as variable times due to changes in daylight saving time.