Story ID: 
Flight Plans Removed from Grand Canyon Requirements
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: FAA said that filing flight plans was an “unreliable method for verifying compliance” of Gran Canyon air tour limitations.
Word Count: 231
The FAA has published a final rule removing the requirement for commercial operators to file flight plans within the Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight Rules Area. According to the agency, eliminating this rule will not affect “safety, existing quarterly reporting requirements, or efforts to restore the natural quiet of the park environment.” This final rule is effective on November 23.

On April 4, 2000, the FAA published commercial air tour limitations for operating sightseeing flights over the Grand Canyon. In addition to limiting the number of commercial air tours that can be conducted, the rules also required operators to file VFR flight plans, ostensibly so that the FAA could verify the number of commercial tours the operator conducts.

However, the agency said it soon found out that that filing flight plans was an “unreliable method for verifying compliance” and has not used them for this purpose for years. Instead, the agency relies on documents required by other FAA regulations to provide an accurate count of the number of commercial air tour flights these operators conduct.

The agency emphasized that this final rule does not change the number of commercial air tour allocations that certificate holders receive, frequency of flight operations in the Grand Canyon area, the location of those flights, or other requirements. It also clarified that the current quarterly reporting requirements remain in place.