The Federal Aviation Administration has issued new regulations that encourage air sightseeing tour operators to use newer, quieter aircraft in Grand Canyon National Park.
Existing regulations restrict
the number of flights and require tour operators to stay within
specified flight routes.
Under the new rules, posted
Tuesday, operators who lessen noise will qualify for incentives that
could include more flights with fewer restrictions. The exact
incentives have yet to be determined.
“This part is working toward
new aircraft and aircraft noise technologies,” FAA spokesman Henry
Price said Wednesday from Washington.
Tour operators say their
helicopters and airplanes carry 800,000 tourists over and to the
northern Arizona park each year. More than half the flights originate
in Las Vegas.
The industry has been asking
the FAA for the incentives, said Steve Bassett, head of the U.S. Tour
Association industry group. “Aircraft that meet the quiet technology
standards should get something back,” Bassett said.
Congress in 1987 directed the
FAA and the National Park Service to achieve “natural quiet” at the
park. The agencies have defined that as when half of the park is free
of aircraft noise 75 percent to 100 percent of the time.
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