Shattered Serenity

For the past few months prospective visitors to the Grand Canyon have lived with the pleasing prospect of going to the canyon and having a serene visit, relatively undisturbed by the buzzing of sightseeing aircraft flying over, around and even through the canyon. In the spurious name of safety, however, the Federal Aviation Administration has rendered the noise-control plan virtually meaningless.

The real reason behind the FAA action seems to be an undue concern for the commercial air-tour operators who conduct the sightseeing flights over the canyon, even though the major operators earlier agreed to the flight-free zones worked out in negotiations between Interior Department officials and environmental organizations. In reviewing the Interior plan, the FAA claimed that the proposed restrictions “may have an adverse economic impact on commercial operators.”

That should not be the FAA’s concern. The only basis on which the Administration should make any change in the Interior plan is for safety. The air-tour operators have absolutely no inherent or contractual right to make money off a national park. They are not National Park Service concessionaires. Longstanding federal law requires the government to control aircraft noise in the park, and that standard must take precedence.

The Interior Department finally acted last year after being directed by Congress to develop a flight-control plan significantly reducing the decibels assaulting canyon visitors. Interior came up with a remarkably good plan, and a seemingly fair one. It created four large flight-free regions, covering about 44% of the park, separated by three air corridors of a minimum two miles wide. In reviewing the plan for safety, the FAA chopped the four flight-free zones into six smaller ones and added two flight paths. The width of the corridors was doubled to a minimum of four miles. The wider corridors were needed, the FAA claimed, “to permit adequate maneuvering room for pilots.” One of the corridors goes directly over Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim, the point from which the greatest number of visitors attempts to enjoy the magnificent vistas.

The FAA alteration is an outrage. It defies the intent of Congress that the plan achieve a “substantial restoration of the natural quiet and experience of the park.” The Interior plan should be restored. If there is a truly legitimate safety concern, it should be solved by restricting the number of aircraft using the corridors at any one time.