[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 240 (Wednesday, December 13, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78072-78074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-31933]
[[Page 78071]]
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Part V
Department of Transportation
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Federal Aviation Administration
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Commercial Routes for the Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight
Rules Area; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 240 / Wednesday, December 13, 2000 /
Notices
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
Commercial Routes for the Grand Canyon National Park Special
Flight Rules Area
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of and requests
comments on commercial routes for the Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP)
Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA). The commercial routes are not being
published in today's Federal Register because they are on very large
and very detailed charts that would not publish well in the Federal
Register. The modifications are related to safety concerns identified
by air tour operators and evaluated by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA). With this notice, the FAA invites comments on the
modifications of these routes. This notice solely proposes
administrative changes in air tour routes to improve safety; it has no
effect on the Airspace Modification rule published in April 2000 nor
any effect on the Commercial Operations Limitation rule also approved
in April 2000.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 12, 2001.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the proposed commercial air tour routes may be
delivered or mailed, in duplicate to: Federal Aviation Administration,
Attention: Gary Davis, Air Transportation Division, Flight Standards
Service, AFS-201, Rm 831, 800 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20591. Comments may be examined at the above address between 9 a.m. and
4 p.m. weekdays, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Nesbitt, Special Assistant for
National Parks, Flight Standards Service, 800 Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20591, Telephone (202) 493-4981.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA is not publishing the commercial
routes in today's Federal Register because they are on very large and
very detailed charts that would not publish well in the Federal
Register. You may obtain a copy of the commercial routes by contacting
Denise Cashmere at (202) 267-3717, by faxing a request to (202) 267-
5229, or by sending a request in writing to the Federal Aviation
Administration, Air Transportation Division, AFS-200, 800 Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591. You may comment on the routes as you
desire, but you must identify that you are commenting on the commercial
routes for Grand Canyon National Park. The FAA will consider all
comments received on or before the closing date for comments before
finalizing the air tour routes. The FAA will consider late-filed
comments to the extent practicable.
History
On April 4, 2000, the Federal Aviation Administration published two
final rules the Modification of the Dimensions of the Grand Canyon
National Park Special Flight Rules Area and Flight Free Zones (Air
Space Modification), and the Commercial Air Tour Limitation in the
Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight Rules Area (Commercial Air
Tour Limitation). See 65 FR 17736; 65 FR 17708; April 4, 2000. The FAA
also simultaneously published a notice of availability of Commercial
Routes for the Grand Canyon National Park (Routes Notice). See 65 FR
17698, April 4, 2000. The Commercial Air Tour Limitations final rule
became effective on May 4, 2000. the Air Space Modification final rule
and the routes set forth in the Routes Notice were scheduled to become
effective December 1, 2000. The effective date of the Air Space
Modification final rule and the new routes was extended to provide the
air tour operators ample opportunity to train on the new route system
during the non-tour season. The Final Supplemental Environmental
Assessment for Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of Grand Canyon
National Park (SEA) was completed on February 22, 2000, and the Finding
of No Significant Impact was issued on February 25, 2000.
On May 8, 2000, The United States Air Tour Association (USATA) and
seven air tour operators (hereinafter collectively referred to as the
Air tour Providers) filed a petition for review of the two final rules
before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit. The FAA, The Department of Transportation, the Department of
Interior, the National Park Service (NPS) and various federal officials
were named as respondents in this action. On May 30, 2000, the Air Tour
Providers filed a motion for stay pending review before the Court of
Appeals. The federal respondents in this case filed a motion for
summary denial on grounds that petitioners had not exhausted their
administrative remedies. The Court granted the federal respondents
summary denial on July 19, 2000. The Grand Canyon Trust, the National
Parks and Conservation Association, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness
Society, Friends of the Grand Canyon and Grand Canyon River Guides,
Inc. (hereinafter will collectively referred to The Trust) filed a
petition for review of the same rules on May 22, 2000. The Court, by
motion of the federal respondents, consolidated that case with that of
the Air Tour Providers. The Hualapai Indian Tribe of Arizona filed a
motion to intervene in the Air Tour Providers petition for review on
June 23, 2000. The Court granted that motion on July 19, 2000.
On July 31, 2000, the Air Tour Providers filed a motion for stay
before the FAA. Both the Hualapai Indian Tribe and the Trust filed
oppositions to the Air Tour Providers' stay motion. On October 11,
2000, (65 FR 60352) the FAA published a disposition of the stay
request, denying the stay. On October 25, 2000, the Air Tour Providers
filed a Motion for Stay and Emergency Relief Pending Review of an
Agency Order with the Court of Appeals. The federal respondents filed
their Opposition of Petitioner's Motion for Stay Pending Review and
Notification of Administrative Stay of Route and Airspace Rules on
November 2, 2000. The FAA then issued an administrative stay of the
routes and airspace until December 28, 2000 so that it could further
investigate some new safety allegations raised by the Air Tour
Providers during the course of litigation (65 FR 69846 and 65 FR 69848;
November 20, 2000).
Discussion
The Air Tour Providers petitioned the United States Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for a review of the FAA's
Commercial Air Tour Limitations final rule and the Airspace
Modification final rule. During the ensuing litigation, the Air Tour
Providers brought forth several new safety issues regarding the east
end routes in the Dragon Corridor, the area north of the Zuni Point
Corridor and around the Desert View Flight Free Zone that were not
clearly articulated in prior comments to the agency during the
rulemaking process. The FAA has investigated the safety issues and has,
in consultation with the NPS, developed suggested map changes to the
routes to improve safety in the Dragon Corridor and the area north of
the Zuni Point Corridor, and around the Desert View Flight Free Zone.
These changes are reflected in the map that is the subject of this
Notice. The routes in the Marble Canyon area, Sanup region (the west
end of GCNP), and the routes running
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east to west across the SFRA are not reopened under this Routes Notice.
However, for purposes of completeness, these routes are shown on the
map together with the routes that are open for comment (Dragon, Zuni
Point, Kaibab Plateau and around Desert View Flight Free Zone).
The Dragon Corridor (Green Route 2/2R) would be modified by
extending the turnaround approximately up to the future incentive
corridor for noise efficient aircraft (also sometimes referred to as
the Bright Angel Corridor). This creates a turnaround in the same place
as shown on the SFAR 50-2 map. This change is necessary for safety
purposes because it was brought to the FAA's attention that the
turnaround on the Green 2/2R, shown on the map published on April 4,
2000, occurs in an area where pilots on the Green 2/2R would be blind
to the traffic descending from the southern portion of the southbound
Green 1. The FAA originally believed that this turnaround was safe
because entering traffic would be able to see the length of the
corridor prior to the turnaround and would be able to proceed via radio
reporting. However, after further investigation, the FAA has concluded
that a turnaround just before the Dragon Head would create an
unacceptable safety risk, especially in certain visibility conditions
or when heavy radio traffic could block some radio transmissions. Thus
for safety reasons, it was determined that the turnaround should be
returned to its present location as depicted on the current SFAR 50-2
route map.
The proposed Green 2/2R route is shown at 7,500 feet MSL, which is
consistent with the route under SFAR 5-2. The FAA Las Vegas Flight
Standards District Office (FSDO) will maintain a procedure in the ``Las
Vegas Grand Canyon National Park Special Flight Rules Area Procedures
Manual'' requiring helicopters to climb to maintain adequate terrain
clearance as the Green 2 passes over the Dragon's Head and to level off
at 8,300 feet MSL in preparation for the 180 degree turn back down the
Corridor. Helicopters flying South on the Green 1 coming off of the
Kaibab Plateau would begin descending prior to the turnaround to ensure
a smooth merging of the traffic.
The other alternative considered for addressing the safety concerns
at the Dragon's Head was to locate the standard route turnaround
approximately a mile and a half below its current location to where the
weather turnaround currently is located on the Green 2/2R, as shown on
the April 4, 2000 map. However, this alternative was not significantly
different than the current route structure and still placed the
turnaround south of the Dragon's Head. Thus, the FAA determined that
this alternative would not provide adequate line of sight visibility
for oncoming traffic just prior to the turnaround and therefore would
fail to address the safety issues. The FAA invites comments on this
decision.
The Green 1 and Black 1 routes north of the Zuni Point Corridor
would be modified to address concerns that the climb between Gunther's
Castle and Pete's Corner does not ensure adequate vertical separation
between fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. The FAA has separated
these two routes horizontally and there would now be a slight
divergence between these two routes and then they would join up as they
cross the plateau. This would allow helicopters to climb to the
designated altitude without concern that the helicopters might pass
through the airspace occupied by the fixed wing before the fixed wing
have cleared the altitude. The FAA does not anticipate that this will
be a significant change in the route structure.
Additionally, the Zuni Point Corridor routes would be modified by
depicting a weather route turnaround on the Green 1 and Black 1 for
fixed wing and helicopter operators after the operators cross the
Saddle Mountain Ridge. Based on FAA's investigation, placement of the
weather route at this point would to give the operators a better
opportunity to assess the weather conditions over the Kaibab Plateau
and make a decision whether to proceed or turn around. The route could
be used during any weather condition that affected safety of flight
(turbulence, winds, thunderstorms, precipitation, etc). The operator
would file a deviation with the FSDO when using the weather route. The
deviation is for record keeping purposes only and would not be used to
penalize the operator in any way for making a safety of flight
decision.
The route structure around the Desert View Flight Free Zone would
be modified by depicting weather routes that provide larger, clearer
landmark navigation aids to use in visibility minimums. This address
the concern that there are not adequate navigation landmarks on the
Black 2 and Green 3 over the Painted Desert. The FAA investigated this
allegation and determined that the navigation landmarks were adequate
during good visibility. However, during marginal visibility, the route
landmarks could possibly be missed, although the FAA was not able to
evaluate these routes in limited visibility conditions. To ensure that
operators are able to navigate this area safely in visibility minimums,
the FAA has added weather routes for both fixed wing and helicopters.
These routes would be closer to the Little Colorado River and its
canyons and thus should be easy to navigate in marginal conditions.
The placement of weather routes on the map simply depicts an
established procedure for the operators should weather conditions
require. Operators are always permitted to take whatever route is
necessary for safety of flight in the event of adverse weather
conditions. The FAA has projected that weather routes will be used less
than 5 percent of the time. Thus, the depiction of the weather routes
is not a significant change from the route structure adopted April 4,
2000.
Finally, north of the Desert View Flight Free Zone the FAA would
add an entrance (2E-4) at 8,500 feet MSL for fixed wing aircraft, which
responds to a request from the Navajo Nation. Pursuant to this request,
the FAA reevaluated its decision in the April 4, 2000 notice to deny an
entrance at this location. The FAA was initially concerned that this
entrance would cause altitude congestion. However, based on further
evaluation of traffic density the FAA believes that it can achieve
proper vertical separation by modifying the altitude structure. Thus,
the altitude on the 2X-4 as shown on the April 4, 2000 map is raised to
9,000 feet MSL to allow for adequate vertical separation and the
altitude for helicopters on the Green 3X remains at 7,500 feet MSL.
While this entrance is not necessary for safety of flight and thus is
different than the other changes noted above, the FAA has decided to
include this change at this time, provided that doing so does not
hinder the adoption of any changes necessary for safety of flight. If
this matter becomes controversial, the FAA may decide to remove this
change from this map and handle it as a separate matter at a later
date.
The FAA has determined that the revisions to the route map outlined
in this Notice are not significant changes to the current route
structure at GCNP. The location of the turnaround in the Dragon
Corridor is depicted in the identical location as under SFAR 50-2. In
addition, the slight route deviation north of Zuni Point Corridor
between Gunther's Castle and Pete's Corner are minor changes that will
make important improvements to the safety of flight. The weather routes
north of the Zuni Point Corridor and around Desert View Flight Free
Zone simply depict established deviations from the standard route
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structure that operators currently could take if necessary for safety
of flight. Finally, the addition of an entrance for fixed wing aircraft
North of the Desert View Flight Free Zone will be located in the same
area as the exit routes shown on the April 4, 2000 map.
The FAA is completing a written reevaluation to determine whether
the contents of the previous Supplemental Environmental Assessment
remain valid and what, if any, impact these slight route changes will
have on substantial restoration of natural quiet at GCNP. While the FAA
is not required to publish the written reevaluation, the FAA intends to
make it publicly available in January 2001. The revisions to the route
map outlined in this Notice will address the safety concerns and allow
the FAA to implement these routes by spring 2001 so they will be in
place by the summer 2001 season.
Issued in Washington, DC on December 11, 2000.
L. Nicholas Lacey,
Director of Flight Standards Service.
[FR Doc. 00-31933 Filed 12-11-00; 4:04 pm]
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