Vegas air tour industry to press case at hearing

By Liz Benston (contact)

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 10:35 a.m.

Air tour operators in the Las Vegas area are expected to argue at a local hearing next week that proposed new Federal Aviation Administration rules governing scenic flights nationwide are unneccessary and in some cases unsafe.

Last fall the FAA began accepting comments on draft regulations governing air tours in response to recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board. The government based its recommendations on rules adopted in Hawaii after a number of accidents involving air tours there. Accidents have dropped since the rules were adopted in Hawaii, one of the largest markets for air tours nationwide, FAA spokesman Donn Walker said.

But Steve Bassett, president of the U.S. Air Tour Association, said the rules could add a "fatal layer of federal regulations" on the industry and "financially cripple" small operators, many of which are mom-and-pop operations.

Locally, the rules would require airplanes and helicopters crossing Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon to be outfitted with life vests and helicopters would have to contain floats, which could mean accepting fewer passengers, he said. Such expenses, as well as lost revenue and labor, could cost operators millions of dollars, he said.

The proposed regulations also could conflict with existing federal requirements for air tours over the Grand Canyon that were implemented in 1987 and have eliminated accidents in Grand Canyon airspace since then, he said. The new rules impose minimum altitudes that could require aircraft to fly in similar airspace or higher, which could pose a safety hazard, he said.

In testimony before FAA officials in Washington on Tuesday, Bassett called the proposed regulation "one of the most ludicrous, unjustified and unwarranted proposed rules the FAA has ever sought to promulgate."

The U.S. Air Tour Association represents about 15 operators in the Las Vegas area and about 35 nationwide. Many of the nation's air tours operate in the Grand Canyon -- companies that also operate sightseeing tours over the Las Vegas Strip as well as over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.

Bassett and other operators intend to press their case again at a public hearing May 21 that begins at 9 a.m. at the Clark County Government Center.

The FAA disputes those claims and says it is closing a loophole in the law.

Federal law now exempts air tour operators from more stringent rules if they begin and end their trip at the same airport and go no further than 25 miles from that airport, Walker said. Air tour operators that fit into that category now must only comply with rules governing general, rather than commercial, aircraft.

"This is about safety, safety, safety," Walker said. "We're not going to implement a rule that's contrary to that."

"We've been aware from the time we proposed this rule that the tour operators would not like it. They've been very vocal from the beginning."

Alan Stephen, a vice president of Arizona-based Grand Canyon Airlines and former president of Scenic Airlines in Las Vegas, said people who give short sightseeing tours or give rides in vintage aircraft without itineraries shouldn't have to abide by the same rules as commercial aircraft.

The life vest rule, which would apply to most Grand Canyon tours because they cross Lake Mead or the Colorado River, isn't sensible, he said.

"You don't need to have life vests when you're flying over the desert. That makes sense in Alaska and Hawaii but it doesn't make sense here," he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board based its recommendations on accident data prior to 1995 and didn't draft a regulation until 1998, Stephens said.

"The data that justifies these recommendations is flawed and old. The commercial air tour industry has moved on considerably," he said.

But Walker said the rules hold commercial operators to a higher standard. Flying over water necessitates the use of flotation devices, he added.

The proposal will likely become law by the end of the year, though operators will be given several months to bring their companies into compliance, he said.

Separately, the FAA and the National Park Service are working with tour operators to develop flight rules governing specific national park sites nationwide. Rules are under way for Lake Mead but Grand Canyon operators are expected to follow existing standards at that site, Walker said.

Bassett said operators are in favor of the local rules because they are site specific. The national rules are too broad to be implemented effectively, he said.

The National Park rules propose location-specific traffic routes and pilot operating procedures rather than the safety requirements envisioned by the national proposal, Walker said.