Regulations and Government
No consensus yet on Grand Canyon ‘natural quiet’
In August 1987 the National Parks Overflight Act (NPOA) mandated that the FAA and National Parks Service (NPS) work together to achieve “substantial restor

In August 1987 the National Parks Overflight Act (NPOA) mandated that the FAA and National Parks Service (NPS) work together to achieve “substantial restoration of natural quiet” in the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. With the deadline for complying with the NPOA noise mandate less than a year away (April 2008), the two sides of the issue still have yet to agree fully on the exact meaning of “substantial” and “natural quiet,” much less on means to satisfy the mandate.

The Grand Canyon Working Group (GCWG), a subcommittee of the National Parks Overflight Advisory Group, met in Phoenix late last year primarily to address the matter of whether to ban all daytime flights at and above FL180 in a polygon-shaped 1,000-sq-mi piece of airspace above the heart of the Grand Canyon.

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