ISTOCK/RACLRO
Manual. Tat’s a major concern for the operators and the flying public.” According to multiple operators, the FAA
local flight standards district offices (FSDOs) are not being consulted as the NPS and FAA plan the ATMPs. Te NPOAG has not been consulted in the design process, only notified about NPS and FAA decisions in NPOAG meetings. Questions and concerns posed by tour operators and HAI to the NPS and the FAA have gone unanswered, including numerous requests for insight into what led to decisions on issues such as routes, altitudes, and hours. “Tis is a bad-faith effort on the part of the
NPS,” says Black Hills Aerial Adventures co-owner Mark Schlaefli. “Te National Park Service has taken the lead in this rushed process over the FAA and is engineering the desired outcomes in a data vacuum. Te elimination of aerial tourism, the single least impactful form of visitation, is their stated goal. Te information being presented to the public is purposefully misleading. Te operators [and] state and local interests have been completely shut out of the process, contrary to the require- ments of NPATMA. Te actions proposed significantly increase the risks and impact safety. Te local FAA FSDO, who has the expertise to help mitigate these issues, has not been consulted.” In preparing this article, ROTOR submitted
the following questions to the NPS: ■ Why has the NPOAG been excluded from the ATMP process?
■ Why do ATMPs assign unsafe routes and routes over visitors on the ground?
■ Why were two parks with less than 50 annual flights given ATMPs when the NPATMA excludes them due to their flight volumes?
■ Why is the full process to establish ATMPs not followed? Te NPS did not address these questions.
Also unaddressed were questions submitted to the FAA about the agency’s level of partic- ipation in the ATMP process or its input on safety. In response, both the FAA and the NPS
independently sent the same statement: “Te NPS and FAA are collaboratively developing air tour management plans (ATMPs) or vol- untary agreements, as required by the National
Aerial tour operators believe the National Park Service unfairly targets them while overlooking the environmental impact of ground-based traffic congestion, as shown here in Yellowstone National Park.
DECEMBER 2022 ROTOR 39
Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000, for 23 national parks. ATMPs are in place for four of those parks already. As part of this process, the agencies have released, and will continue to release, draft ATMPs for public comment. We consider the comments received while we prepare the final ATMPs. As the ATMPs or voluntary agreements are developed, the FAA thoroughly reviews all proposed routes to ensure they are safe.”
A Coordinated Response As a result of the 2020 court order, the FAA and NPS have focused on completing ATMPs as quickly as possible, skipping vital stakeholder participation used in past years, explains HAI Vice President of Government Affairs Cade Clark. “I call it ‘rulemaking light,’ ” he says. “Typically, in these kinds of projects, agencies gather information from all stakeholders before preparing a draft. It really doesn’t feel like that is taking place, and HAI believes that both economic and safety issues are going unad- dressed as a result.” However, Clark and his colleagues in the
HAI Government Affairs Department are working to raise awareness about the failure of the ATMP process. Typically, once a draft ATMP is announced, there is a comment period that lasts from 30 to 60 days. Groups supporting ATMPs have a significant advantage, sending form letters to their members to send in sup-
porting the ATMPs. HAI regularly provides updates on the issue
via social media, e-blasts, and its daily and weekly e-newsletters, ROTOR Daily and Te VTOL Advocate, asking members and allies to provide comments on each draft ATMP as the comment windows open. It also encourages them to reach out to Congress about their concerns. In fact, HAI has created materials for operators that educate air tour customers about the issue and make it easier for them to share their thoughts with their congressional representatives. “One place that people who support the air
tour industry can submit their comments to at any time is Congress,” says Clark. “While the ATMP situation came about from a court order, as the branch of government responsible for funding federal agencies, Congress has con- siderable sway with those agencies. If enough congressional representatives hear about it, they can investigate how the ATMP process is being derailed and put pressure on the NPS and the FAA to include the NPOAG and operators in the ATMP planning process. “With each new draft ATMP, there is more
awareness of what is happening. More people are commenting,” Clark says. “Having our voices heard relies on everyone and every operator working to get their concerns heard and the benefits of air tours in national parks under- stood.”
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