Bill would extend tour flight hours

Thursday, June 12, 2003 | 11:19 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A bill that extends the time air-tour operators can fly over Grand Canyon National Park in the peak season was approved by the U.S. House on Wednesday.

Senate officials expect to take up the legislation or offer a similar bill that would change regulations from allowing flights from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the winter, to allowing flights year-around from one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset.

Supporters of the bill said it would enable tour operators -- many based in Las Vegas -- to fly more flights in the summer when demand is highest, but less in the winter when demand is low.

"Creating a more logical time frame to one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset provides more flexibility," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who supported the legislation, which also is backed by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would support the Senate version of the bill. Reid said strides have been made by air-tour companies to develop quiet-engine technology on planes operating over the Grand Canyon.

But environmental organizations said the proposal was a step in the wrong direction toward assuring natural quiet in the canyon. Steele Wotkyns, a spokesman for Grand Canyon Trust in Flagstaff, Ariz., said his group is studying the House bill and believes it would have a detrimental effect on the organization's efforts to limit aircraft noise.