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Senator pushes<br>for quieter GC

When Congress passed the National Park Overflights Act in 1987, it was a step many believed would lead to a quieter Grand Canyon.

Sen. John McCain had strong words about Grand Canyon overflights.

The Federal Aviation Admin-istration and National Park Service were directed to restore "natural quiet" by taking action to place limitations on air tours. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pushed hard for the legislation.

Fifteen years later, McCain believes the same problems with overflights still exist. In fact, he voiced some strong words on Oct. 4 during a committee hearing he called.

"I frankly don’t care who is responsible," McCain was quoted as saying in an Associated Press story. "What I care about is that we haven’t reached our goal 15 years after it was established as law. What I want to know is when and how we will reach final resolution."

The FAA’s proposal for new regulations was shot down in a federal appeals court late this summer. The court ruled that the rules did not go far enough to restore natural quiet. Now the FAA is trying to come up with a new plan. The lawsuits were filed by both air-tour operators and environmental groups.

In recent years, there have been various rules implemented, such as redirecting flight paths, instituting a curfew and capping flight allocations. Air-tour operators at Tusayan and out of Las Vegas have struggled from a business standpoint through the process.

To make things worse, air tours have suffered even more since the events of Sept. 11. This year, there have been reports that the fixed-wing and helicopter air tours will not surpass 400,000, about half the number that could be expected during a typical year. Some operators have gone out of business while a few others have plans to merge.

Natural quiet is defined as half the park being quiet three-fourths of the time during daylight hours. Those guidelines are supposed to be reached by 2008. The FAA reports that 19 percent of the park meets those levels now.

Politicians with an interest in the situation believe quiet plane and helicopter technology rules should be adopted. But things have been delayed several times, leading the Grand Canyon Trust’s Tom Robinson to say "we shouldn’t have to rely on litigation to move this process."

Grand Canyon-based air-tour operators have looked at quiet technology with some carriers doing upgrades. But critics believe there is still too much noise.

A few weekends ago, there was a helicopter association meeting at Tusayan, along with a Tour Operations Program Safety meeting. Participating air-tour companies go over regulations and management strategies.

McCain believes the responsible agencies need to get rolling on the process.

"We owe our constituents and the American people better service on this than they’ve been getting," McCain said in the committee hearing.


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