FAA and Park Service Ending Canyon de Chelly Air Tour Flights | Aviation International News

Regulations and Government

FAA and Park Service Ending Canyon de Chelly Air Tours

Protecting tribal lands and practices is a goal of the air tour management plan

Canyon de Chelly National Park — Canyon de Chelly National Monument is located near the Arizona/New Mexico border. © National Park Service

By Matt Thurber • Editor-in-Chief

December 30, 2024

The FAA and National Park Service (NPS) completed an air tour management plan (ATMP) and environmental assessment for Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona on December 19, ending tours over the park. The operating parameters, which prohibit air tours over the monument below 5,000 feet agl or within one-half mile of the park boundary, take effect 180 days from the signing of the plan.

Although Canyon de Chelly was exempted from the requirement to have an ATMP, the NPS withdrew the exemption on Nov. 2, 2017. Parks with fewer than 50 air tour flights per year are exempted from the ATMP requirement, but the NPS has the right to withdraw such exemptions. In its study of Canyon de Chelly activity, the FAA found that tours averaged 43 per year from 2017 through 2019, and these were flown with fixed-wing airplanes such as a Cessna 207 operated by Southwest Safaris.

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