from:
My Talk with the man in charge of the Air traffic control Center in Albuquerque
he would not like me using his real name we’ll call him Bob... Now Bob a long time friend who once encouraged me to marry one of his daughter. he Doesn’t just work at the Albuquerque control center he’s in charge all the air traffic controllers on his shift... I’ll post a flight map so you can see the size of territory he’s responsible for... look for the section marked ZAB Albuquerque...
Anyway just yesterday I was over at his house, talking about old times, sharing a beer as we watched a game... After all these years of knowing him I finally asked, “Say Bob...With all those fancy radars you got out the center...you ever pick up a UFO”? He took a big gulp of his beer and never taking his eyes off the TV replied, “Everyday...” I know this man well enough to know he was dead serious...watching him I also realized if they reported those there would be a lot fewer air traffic controllers too...
New Mexico? I’m not surprised. They are just as busy, or busier with their airspace as is Nevada. They even did one missile test once right at dawn, that left sky trails you could see from Phoenix.
Most of their action I’m guessing would be the Nevada-Texas run, plus White Sands Missile Range, plus who knows what all else. Very heavy traffic, much of it would show up on Albuquerque radar, but is “None of your business”, for their air traffic control.
As far as Nevada goes, when you drive North to Vegas, about any day of the year, aircraft are always flying low over the highway. Once I saw what looked like for semi trucks, shoulder to shoulder, coming towards me on the highway (made my heart go pitter pat), but then they swerved up, and it was a B-52. It still rattled some of the bolts out of my car.
Busy skies. Oh yes, New Mexico also gets a lot of action from Tucson (Davis-Montham AB), and Yuma (Marine Air Corps).