Clinton announces new restrictions on Grand Canyon flights

Matt Kelley

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 10:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Sightseeing flights over the Grand Canyon would be limited to help quiet manmade noise in the landmark under new federal rules announced by President Clinton.

The Federal Aviation Administration rules would increase a "no-fly zone" from 45 percent of Grand Canyon National Park to 75 percent of the park. Planes and helicopters would have to fly about 3,500 feet higher, and the number of flights also would be capped at present levels.

"The new rules continue to allow visitors to view the canyon by air, but limit noise," a White House news release said Tuesday.

A 1987 federal law sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., requires the federal government to restore natural quiet to the canyon.

Air tour operators immediately attacked the rules, saying they could be driven out of business. Sightseeing flight companies have opposed the new rules since they were formally proposed last year.

"If this rule is implemented in the Grand Canyon it will have a devastating effect on these companies and a devastating effect on the 20 percent of people visiting the Grand Canyon who do so by air," said Steve Bassett of the U.S. Air Tour Association.

Tom Robinson of the Grand Canyon Trust, an environmental group, said the rules are "a good start" but do not go far enough to limit flights over the canyon.

"There are too many flights and it's too noisy," Robinson said.

One rule set to go into effect next month would limit annual air tours to the number of flights recorded from May 1997 through April 1998. That's about 88,000 sightseeing flights per year, said Ken Webber of the National Park Service.

Flights would be banned over an area where the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers meet, a place that is sacred to both the Hopi and Navajo. The plan also would eliminate an air route that passes over parts of the Hualapai and Havasupai Indian reservations.

Bassett said air tour operators have been considering going to court to try to block the new rules from going into effect. He said 1997-98 was a particularly bad year to base flight numbers on, with 45 days of inclement weather and a drop in foreign tourists because of the Asian economic crisis.

Robinson said air tour flights have more than doubled since 1987, when Congress passed the law to clamp down on noise in the canyon.