a

GAO

United States Government Accountability Office

Report to Congressional Requesters

January 2006 NATIONAL PARKS 

AIR TOUR 

MANAGEMENT ACT

More Flexibility and 

Better Enforcement 

Needed

GAO-06-263
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

January 2006

NATIONAL PARKS AIR TOUR 

MANAGEMENT ACT 

More Flexibility and Better Enforcement 

Needed 

Highlights of GAO-06-263, a report to 

congressional requesters 

Primarily because of concerns that 

noise from air tours over national 

parks could impair visitors’ 

experiences and park resources, 

Congress passed the National 

Parks Air Tour Management Act of 

2000 to regulate air tours. The act

requires the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) and the 

National Park Service to develop 

air tour management plans for all 

parks where air tour operators 

apply to conduct tours. A plan may 

establish controls over tours, such 

as routes, altitudes, time of day 

restrictions, and/or a maximum 

number of flights for a given 

period; or ban all air tours. 

GAO was asked to (1) determine

the status of FAA and the Park

Service’s implementation of the 

act; (2) assess how the air tour 

operators and national parks have 

been affected by implementation;

and (3) identify what issues, if any,

need to be addressed to improve

implementation. 

What GAO Recommends

To allow more cost-effective

implementation, Congress may 

wish to consider amending the act 

to give the agencies authority to 

determine which parks should 

develop plans. GAO also

recommends that FAA take several

actions to improve compliance, 

enforcement, and implementation. 

In commenting on the draft report, 

the Departments of Transportation

and the Interior generally agreed 

with our recommendations. 

FAA and the Park Service have taken some steps to implement the National

Parks Air Tour Management Act, but almost 6 years after its passage, the 

required air tour management plans have not been completed. FAA issued 

regulations implementing the act and the agencies began developing plans at 

nine parks. But implementation has been slow, in part, because FAA needed 

to address airline security after the September 11, 2001, attacks and because

the two agencies disagreed over how to comply with environmental laws. 

Agency officials expect that future plans will be developed more quickly 

since they have drafted an implementation plan to guide their development. 

Nevertheless, because no plans have been completed, it is unclear how some

of the act’s key requirements will be addressed, such as creating incentives 

for air tour operators to adopt quiet aircraft technology. 

FAA and the Park Service’s slow implementation of the act has limited the 

ability of air tour operators to make major decisions, such as expanding or 

selling their businesses, while it has had little effect on the parks. For 

example, operators have been unable to increase their number of air tours 

beyond their pre-2000 levels or expand to additional parks. Also, air tour 

operators face uncertainty about whether they can legally transfer their 

authority to conduct air tours. In contrast, the implementation of the act has 

so far had little effect on the 112 national parks we surveyed. Most of the 

parks responded that they had not experienced any positive or negative 

effect of the implementation of the act, or that they were uncertain or did 

not know the extent of the effect. Nonetheless, 47 percent responded that 

their park could benefit by having a plan to mitigate or prevent potential 

adverse impacts on park resources, visitor experiences, and air safety. 

GAO identified four key issues that need to be addressed to improve 

implementation of the act:

• Lack of flexibility for determining which parks should develop plans.

Not all parks required to develop a plan may need one because they have 

few air tours or are more affected by other types of flights. Yet, the act 

does not provide the agencies with any flexibility to exclude some parks.

• Absence of Park Service funding for its share of plan development 

costs. The Park Service has not requested nor received funding for its 

share of the costs of developing plans. 

• Limited ability to verify and enforce the number of air tours. Air tour 

operators are not required to report the number of tours they conduct. 

As a result, the agencies are limited in their ability to enforce the act. 

Based on information provided by operators, GAO found some operators 

had inappropriately exceeded their number of authorized tours. 

• FAA’s inadequate guidance concerning the act’s safety requirements. 

FAA has not instructed its district offices or air tour operators on how to 

interpret the act’s requirement that operators meet a specified level of 

safety certification. 

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-263.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Robin M. 

Nazzaro at (202) 512-3841 or 

nazzaror@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Contents

Letter 1

Results in Brief 4

Background 8

FAA and the Park Service Have Begun to Implement the Act, but No 

ATMPs Have Been Completed 11

Act’s Implementation Has Limited Air Tour Operators’ Ability to 

Make Major Business Decisions but Had Little Effect on National 

Park Units 15

Issues Remain to Improve Implementation and Enforcement of the 

Act 24

Conclusions 32

Matter for Congressional Consideration 34

Recommendations for Executive Action 34

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 35

Appendixes

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 38

Appendix II: Survey Instrument and Results from 112 National Park 

Units 41

Appendix III: Applications for Operating Authority by National Park 

Unit 47

Appendix IV: Applications for Operating Authority by Air Tour Operator 51

Appendix V: Air Tours Authorized under Interim Operating Authority by 

National Park Unit 54

Appendix VI: Comments from the Department of the Interior 57

GAO Comments 62

Appendix VII: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 64

Tables Table 1: Park Units Where Existing Operators Have Applied for an 

Increase in Air Tours as of November 2005 17

Table 2: Park Units Where New Entrants Have Applied for 

Operating Authority as of November 2005 18

Table 3: Effects of Air Tours on Park Unit Resources Reported by 

59 Park Units in July 2005 24

Figure Figure 1: Factors Affecting FAA and the Park Service’s 

Implementation of the Act as of November 2005 14
Contents

Page ii GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Abbreviations

ATMP(s) air tour management plan(s)

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further 

permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain copyrighted images or 

other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to 

reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

A

January 27, 2006 Letr

Congressional Requesters

Primarily because of concern that noise from air tours over our national 

park units could impair visitors’ experiences and natural, cultural, and 

historic resources, the Congress passed the National Parks Air Tour 

Management Act of 2000 (the act) to regulate commercial air tours (air 

tours) over units of the national park system.1

 To regulate air tours, the act 

requires the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in cooperation with 

the National Park Service (Park Service), to develop air tour management 

plans (ATMPs) for national park units and abutting tribal lands where air 

tour operators apply for authority to conduct air tours. The purpose of an 

ATMP is to develop acceptable and effective measures to mitigate or 

prevent significant adverse impacts, if any, of air tours on national park 

units’ natural and cultural resources and visitors’ experiences, and on 

abutting tribal lands. An ATMP may establish controls over tours, including 

flight routes, altitudes, time of day restrictions, and maximum number of 

flights for a given time period, or prohibit air tours altogether. 

In October 2002, FAA notified companies that conduct air tours (air tour 

operators) of the need to apply for authority to conduct air tours over 

national park units.2

 Before approving an air tour operator’s application for 

authority to fly over a park unit (operating authority), the two agencies 

must create an ATMP for that park unit. When an operator that conducted 

air tours over the park unit before the act (i.e., an existing operator) applies 

for operating authority for that park unit, FAA must grant the existing 

operator interim operating authority, which lasts until 180 days after the 

ATMP is completed. In accordance with the act, the number of air tours 

FAA approves under interim operating authority is based on either an air 

tour operator’s total number of air tours during the 12-month period before 

1

Pub. L. No. 106-181, title VIII, 114 Stat. 185 (2000). “National park units” refers to all units in 

the National Park System, including national historic sites, memorials, monuments, parks, 

recreation areas, and other designations. The act also applies to all tribal lands within or 

abutting national park units—however, we limited the scope of our review to national park 

units.

2

67 Fed. Reg. 65662 (Oct. 25, 2002). A “commercial air tour operator” is any person who 

conducts a commercial air tour operation, including individuals, companies, and 

corporations. A “commercial air tour operation” is any flight for hire carried out for 

sightseeing purposes over a national park unit below 5,000 feet above ground level; we refer 

to these operations as “air tours” in this report.
Page 2 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

the act was passed, or the average number of annual air tours conducted in 

the 36 months before the act was passed, whichever is greater. The act also 

contains provisions for granting interim operating authority to operators 

who had not conducted air tours over a particular national park unit before 

the act (new entrants) and for granting increases in interim operating 

authority for existing operators over and above their pre-act level of 

activity. Once an ATMP is created for a park unit, an air tour operator may 

or may not be granted final operating authority, depending upon the 

restrictions the ATMP imposes. In addition, the act generally requires air 

tour operators to meet a specified level of safety certification, if they are 

not already certified.

As of November 2005, FAA had active applications for operating authority 

at 94 of the 388 national park units: applications from 77 existing operators 

for authority to conduct air tours at a total of 85 park units, and from 16 

new entrants at some park units with existing operators, as well as 9 

additional park units.3

 FAA and the Park Service have not completed any 

ATMPs, and thus FAA has not granted final operating authority to any 

operator. In issuing its regulations codifying the act, FAA stated that all 

operators seeking to conduct air tours had to file an application for 

operating authority and have interim operating authority before January 23, 

2003, almost 3 years after the act’s passage, in order to avoid a break in 

operations. In oversight hearings in 2002 and 2004, Congress raised 

concerns primarily about the agencies’ lengthy implementation process—

the agencies had not completed any ATMPs—and the validity of the air tour 

data being used to establish ATMPs.4

In this context, you asked us to (1) determine the status of FAA and the 

Park Service’s implementation of the act; (2) assess how the air tour 

operators and national park units have been affected by the 

implementation of the act; and (3) identify what issues, if any, remain to be 

addressed to improve the implementation of the act. You also asked us to 

report on compliance regarding payment of fees for air tours over national 

3

Six of the sixteen new entrants are existing operators that have received interim operating 

authority at some national park units but have requested authority as new entrants at 

additional park units, while 10 are solely new entrants that have no authority to conduct 

tours over any park units.

4

U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, “National Park 

Overflights,” October 3, 2002; and U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 

Subcommittee on National Parks, “National Parks Air Tour Management Act,” July 22, 2004.
Page 3 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

park units. We will report on the fee issue separately because the air tour 

fee legislation is distinct from the National Parks Air Tour Management Act, 

and air tour fees are currently charged at only three national park units. 

To determine the status of implementation, we analyzed FAA and Park 

Service policy and guidance documents, reports, data, and applicable laws 

and regulations. We also assessed the agencies’ budget data, and FAA’s data 

on both the number of air tours authorized under interim operating 

authority and the number of new entrant operators; we determined that 

these data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report. To 

assess how the air tour operators are affected by the implementation of the 

act, we interviewed a sample of 29 air tour companies that conduct tours at 

12 different national park units. This sample included different sizes of 

existing air tour operators based on the number of air tours they conduct 

annually, as well as all new entrant operators and existing operators that 

have requested increases in operating authority. To assess effects on 

national park units, we surveyed (and received responses from) all of the 

112 national park units where applications for operating authority were 

valid as of July 2005. Since then, two operators withdrew their applications 

for operating authority at 15 park units, and FAA withdrew authority for 

one operator at 3 park units where there were no other applicants. This 

reduced the number of park units needing ATMPs to 94, as of November 

2005. See appendix III for a list of the 94 park units. When reporting survey 

results, we refer to all 112 park units that were surveyed. Ten tribal lands 

within or abutting national park units have also been identified as needing 

to be part of the ATMPs developed at the relevant park units, but our 

review is limited to the implementation of the act at national park units. We 

also interviewed Park Service officials at 12 different national park units 

selected through nonprobability sampling.5

 We selected these park units 

because 9 of the 12 were the first park units for which FAA and the Park 

Service chose to develop ATMPs, and the other 3 faced circumstances that 

differed from the first 9: one had a military flight restriction, one was a 

potential candidate for an alternative method for developing an ATMP, and 

one believed an ATMP was not needed because it had few air tours. To 

identify issues that remain to be addressed to improve the implementation 

of the act, we analyzed the agencies’ policies, guidance, reports, and 

applicable regulations and laws. We also interviewed FAA and Park Service 

5

Results from nonprobability samples cannot be used to make projections about a 

population because in a nonprobability sample, some elements of the population being 

studied have no chance or an unknown chance of being selected as part of the sample.
Page 4 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

officials at headquarters and at field offices. A more detailed description of 

our scope and methodology is presented in appendix I, and the survey 

instrument and aggregate results are presented in appendix II. We 

performed our work from January 2005 through January 2006 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Results in Brief While FAA and the Park Service have taken some important steps to 

implement the provisions of the National Parks Air Tour Management Act 

of 2000, implementation has been slow and some key requirements of the 

act have yet to be addressed. Specifically, as the act requires, in April 2001, 

the agencies established the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group to 

advise them on the act’s implementation. In October 2002, FAA issued a 

final rule that completed the definition of an air tour and informed air tour 

operators that they must apply for operating authority over national park 

units. Finally, in January 2003, FAA and the Park Service began developing 

ATMPs for nine park units. Officials at both agencies told us that 

implementation was initially slow because FAA needed to address airline 

security after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and because the 

agencies disagreed over the procedures necessary to implement the act in 

compliance with environmental laws, such as determining what constitutes 

a significant impact on park resources. Agency officials expect to establish 

ATMPs more quickly in the future because they now have a draft 

implementation plan that will guide their creation. According to the 

agencies’ current plans, it could take 5 more years to complete the 

development of ATMPs for all the 94 national park units with active 

applications from air tour operators. Furthermore, some key requirements 

of the act have not been fully implemented. Specifically, the act requires 

that FAA and the Park Service include in ATMPs (1) a competitive bidding 

process for awarding final operating authority if an ATMP limits the 

number of air tours over a national park unit and (2) incentives for air tour 

operators to adopt technologies that make aircraft quieter. The agencies 

expect to address these requirements on a park-unit-by-unit basis as each 

ATMP is developed. 

FAA and the Park Service’s slow implementation of the act has limited the 

ability of air tour operators to make major decisions such as expanding or 

selling their businesses, while implementation has had little effect on the 

112 national park units we surveyed in July 2005. Specifically, existing 

operators cannot expand their air tour businesses over national park units, 

and new entrants cannot enter the business, because FAA, in cooperation 

with the Park Service, has granted neither increases in interim operating 
Page 5 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

authority to existing operators nor interim operating authority to any new 

entrants. The agencies have not agreed on whether or how they will grant 

any increases to existing operators, or operating authority to new entrants, 

before the appropriate ATMPs have been completed. Furthermore, air tour 

operators face uncertainty about whether they can legally transfer their 

authority to conduct air tours—which they believe should be valued in the 

marketplace—and are therefore having difficulty making decisions, such as 

whether to sell their businesses. In addition, the act requires operators to 

obtain a specified level of certification that has more stringent safety 

standards than some operators had previously met, and which takes an 

investment of resources to obtain. Otherwise, as an exception to this safety 

requirement, the act limits the number of air tours conducted by operators 

that do not meet this level of certification to a total of five tours per park 

unit per month with the agencies’ approval. In contrast to these effects on 

air tour operators, the implementation of the act has had little effect on the 

112 national park units we surveyed. Most park units responded to the 

survey that they had not experienced any positive or negative effect from 

the act’s implementation, or they were uncertain or did not know the extent 

of the effect. In written comments in the survey, 14 park units attributed 

this lack of effect to their unit not having air tours. Only 15 percent 

reported a positive effect to some extent, while 13 percent reported a 

negative effect to some extent. However, 47 percent of the 112 park units 

also responded that they need an ATMP to mitigate or prevent potential 

adverse impacts on park unit resources, visitor experiences, and air safety. 

The agencies plan to first develop ATMPs at park units on the basis of the 

presence of new entrants, higher levels of air tour activity, and other 

factors. 

We identified four key issues to be addressed by the Congress and the 

agencies to improve implementation of the act. Specifically: 

• Lack of flexibility for determining which park units should develop 

ATMPs. The act requires that an ATMP be developed for any park unit 

for which an application for operating authority is filed, regardless of 

the requested number of air tours or their impact on the park unit. The 

number of air tours authorized at each park unit under interim operating 

authority ranges from more than 35,000 air tours per year to 5 air tours 

per year. In addition, when asked in our survey to identify the one or two 

types of overflights that had the most negative effect on their park unit, 

more park units reported general aviation (56 park units) and military 

(44 park units) overflights than air tours (33 park units). More than half 

of the 112 park units responded either that they did not need an ATMP 
Page 6 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

or that they were unsure, despite the act’s current requirement. In our 

discussions with both agencies and air tour operators, we found that 

voluntary agreements at some park units had successfully established 

air tour routes and elevation levels to minimize impacts from air tours. 

These voluntary agreements, some of which were adopted prior to the 

act, are good management practices that could be replicated at other 

park units. However, the act does not provide the agencies with any 

flexibility to exclude some park units from the requirement. The 

agencies have raised questions about whether it is cost-effective to 

develop an ATMP for some park units—the first nine plans average an 

estimated $405,000 each, implying a potential $38 million cost for 94 

ATMPs in current dollars. To save time and money in developing future 

plans, the agencies are considering alternatives to the ATMP approach 

used at the first nine park units, such as an expedited process at park 

units where there is little air tour activity or public controversy. The 

Congress may also wish to consider amending the act to give the 

agencies authority to determine which park units should develop 

ATMPs. 

• Absence of Park Service funding for its share of ATMP development 

costs. The Park Service, in an interagency memorandum of 

understanding with FAA, agreed to fund 40 percent of the cost of 

developing ATMPs. However, the Park Service had not requested or 

received any dedicated funding for the ATMP program until fiscal year 

2006, although it had contributed staff time. In contrast, by the end of 

fiscal year 2005, FAA had contributed $29 million for the ATMP 

program—$27 million to a contractor to record and analyze sounds in 

park units and other activities, and the remaining $2 million for staff 

salaries, travel expenses, equipment and supplies, and in-house 

contractors. At that level, FAA has already received about 67 percent of 

the total estimated ATMP cost for the 94 park units. If the Park Service 

does not meet its obligation within the next 2 years, officials from both 

agencies said implementation may be hindered.

• Limited ability to verify and enforce the number of air tours. The 

agencies lack a mechanism to verify the number of air tours conducted 

before or since the act because FAA and existing laws and regulations 

do not require operators to record and report the number of air tours 

they conduct over national park units. Without these data, FAA and the 

Park Service cannot determine whether operators actually conducted 

the number of air tours prior to the act that they reported in their 

applications for operating authority, nor whether operators are violating 
Page 7 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

their interim operating authority. As a result, the agencies are limited in 

their ability to enforce the act. We determined that 3 of the 25 existing 

operators we interviewed were exceeding the number of air tours they 

were authorized to conduct under interim operating authority, flying 

over park units for which they did not have authority, or both. For 

example, one air tour operator told us it was exceeding its interim 

operating authority by more than 3,000 tours per year over a major 

national park unit.

• FAA’s inadequate guidance concerning the act’s safety requirements. 

FAA has not clearly communicated to its district offices or air tour 

operators how to interpret the act’s requirement for operators to obtain 

a specified level of safety certification. The act allows an exception for 

operators not meeting this requirement to be restricted to a combined 

total of five air tours per park unit per month if they get approval from 

both agencies. However, we found three operators had neither applied 

for the increased safety certification nor met the conditions of the 

exception. Officials in FAA’s district offices either were not aware of 

these circumstances or believed the operators were in compliance with 

the act. However, FAA headquarters officials disagreed, indicating these 

operators were in violation.

To allow more cost-effective implementation of the National Parks Air Tour 

Management Act, Congress may wish to consider amending the act to 

authorize FAA and the Park Service to determine which park units should 

develop ATMPs. In addition, we recommend that FAA take a number of 

actions to improve compliance, enforcement, and implementation of the 

act. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Department of 

Transportation agreed with our findings and agreed to consider our 

recommendations as they move forward with the program. The 

Department of the Interior (Interior), which oversees the Park Service, 

generally agreed with our findings and recommendations, but it questioned 

whether Congress needs to amend the act to give the agencies greater 

flexibility. However, Interior stated that it “... would agree to a general 

grant of authority which would provide the agencies discretion to make 

such determinations based on agency developed criteria that goes beyond 

simply the level of air tour activity.” See the “agency comments and our 

evaluation” section and appendix VI for Interior’s comment letter and our 

evaluation of these comments. 
Page 8 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Background Primarily out of concern that noise from air tours over national park units 

could impair visitors’ experiences and park unit resources, the Congress 

passed the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 to regulate air 

tours conducted over national park units. The act mandates new 

responsibilities for FAA and the Park Service, including developing ATMPs 

for all national park units where air tour operators apply for authority to 

conduct air tours.6

 The purpose of an ATMP is to develop acceptable and 

effective measures to mitigate or prevent the significant adverse impacts, if 

any, from air tours on the natural and cultural resources and visitor 

experiences at national park units, and on abutting tribal lands. To 

implement the act, FAA and the Park Service must, among other things:

• establish an advisory group to provide continuing advice and counsel on 

air tours over and near national park units; 

• establish an ATMP at any national park unit whenever an air tour 

operator applies for authority to conduct an air tour over the park unit; 

• grant interim operating authority to existing air tour operators to 

provide annual authorizations to operators until 180 days after an ATMP 

is developed at the relevant park unit;

• develop an open, competitive process for air tour operators interested in 

providing air tours over a park unit whenever an ATMP limits the 

number of air tours during a specified time frame; 

• include incentives in an ATMP for air tour operators to adopt technology 

that makes aircraft quieter for tours over park units; and

• submit a report to Congress by April 5, 2002, on the effectiveness of the 

act in providing incentives for the development and use of quiet aircraft 

technology.

6

The act does not apply to (1) the Grand Canyon National Park or tribal lands within or 

abutting the Grand Canyon National Park; (2) any air tour operator flying over or near Lake 

Mead National Recreation Area, solely as a transportation route, to conduct an air tour over 

Grand Canyon National Park; and (3) any land or waters in Alaska. The act prohibits any air 

tours over Rocky Mountain National Park. Grand Canyon National Park has separate 

legislation to regulate air tours over that park: the National Parks Overflights Act of 1987 

(Pub. L. No. 100-91, 101 Stat. 676).
Page 9 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

The act requires FAA and the Park Service to prepare each ATMP in 

accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). 

NEPA requires each federal agency to prepare an environmental impact 

statement to assess proposed actions that will have a significant impact on 

the environment. If the agency is unsure whether the proposed action will 

have a significant impact, it prepares a briefer document called an 

environmental assessment. If the assessment concludes the action will 

have a significant impact, the agency must then prepare an environmental 

impact statement—otherwise it issues a “finding of no significant impact.” 

The act requires both FAA and the Park Service to approve the NEPA 

decision document associated with each ATMP; agency officials believe 

they will need to prepare an environmental assessment for most ATMPs. 

The act defines an “air tour” as any flight conducted for compensation or 

hire in an aircraft where a purpose of the flight is sightseeing over a 

national park unit or within one-half mile outside the boundary of any 

national park unit—the agencies further defined air tours to include only 

flights below 5,000 feet above ground level. The act defines two types of air 

tour operators: existing and new entrant operators. Existing operators are 

those that were providing air tours over a national park unit at any time 

during the 12-month period ending April 5, 2000. A new entrant is an air 

tour operator that applies for operating authority but did not provide air 

tours over a national park unit during the same 12-month period. Before an 

ATMP is developed for a park unit, the act instructs FAA to grant interim 

operating authority to any existing air tour operator that applies for 

operating authority, which lasts until 180 days after an ATMP is developed. 

Interim operating authority provides existing air tour operators with an 

annual number of tours that can be conducted over a park unit. The 

number of tours authorized is equal to the number of air tours conducted 

by the operator during the 12-month period prior to the act’s passage on 

April 5, 2000, or the average number of air tours per 12-month period 

conducted by the operator for the 36 months before the act—whichever is 

greater. The act allows FAA and the Park Service to grant increases in 

interim operating authority to existing operators, and to grant interim 

operating authority to new entrant operators, under certain circumstances, 

but the agencies have chosen not to do so. 

For safety reasons, the act requires certain air tour operators—known as 

Part 91 operators because they operate under safety rules in Part 91 of Title 

14 of the Code of Federal Regulations—to apply for the more stringent 

operational and safety rules outlined in Part 135. Some of the more 

stringent safety rules under Part 135 include passing an annual flight check, 
Page 10 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

passing an instrument proficiency check every 6 months, maintaining 

copies of the aircraft’s maintenance log, and flying no more than 8 hours in 

a 24-hour period. The act’s ATMP and safety certification requirements do 

not apply to Part 91 operators that obtain a letter of agreement from FAA 

and the relevant park unit’s superintendent describing the conditions under 

which their air tours will be conducted. The act limits air tours by Part 91 

operators under this provision to no more than five air tours per park unit 

(not per operator) in any 30-day period.

To implement the act, FAA directed its Western Pacific Region to work with 

the Park Service’s Natural Sounds Program. FAA’s mission is to provide the 

safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world, which now includes 

managing air tours over national park units. It is pursuing its mission with 

an annual budget of over $14 billion for fiscal year 2005, approximately $8 

million of which was budgeted for air tour management; FAA has provided 

a total of about $29 million for implementing the act for fiscal years 2001 

through 2005. The Volpe Center, a fee-for-service organization in the 

Department of Transportation, performs work primarily for the 

department, as well as other entities, and covers such issues as safety, 

mobility, security, and noise pollution. FAA contracted with the Volpe 

Center to perform, among other things, sound monitoring, environmental 

analyses, and economic analysis in support of creating ATMPs; FAA has 

allocated $27 million of its $29 million in funding to the Volpe Center for 

these activities. 

The National Park Service is responsible for conserving the scenery, the 

natural and historic objects, and the wildlife in national park units, and for 

providing for the enjoyment of national park units in ways that leave them 

unimpaired for future generations. To accomplish its mission, the Park 

Service received a budget from Congress of about $1.7 billion for fiscal year 

2006, $1.4 million of which is allocated to the Natural Sounds Program, 

according to a program official. The Park Service established the 

Soundscapes Program Center in 2000 (now the Natural Sounds Program) 

primarily to work with FAA’s Western Pacific Region Manager to develop 

ATMPs, though the Natural Sounds Program’s mission is not limited to 

creating ATMPs. The Natural Sounds Program works to protect, maintain, 

or restore natural sounds in the national park units by working in 

partnership with park units to increase scientific and public understanding 

of the value and character of sounds that are appropriate for a park unit 

and to eliminate or minimize noise intrusions. The program provides 

technical assistance to park units in managing sounds and assessing 

impacts from noise, and performing outreach and education on sounds.
Page 11 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

FAA and the Park 

Service Have Begun to 

Implement the Act, but 

No ATMPs Have Been 

Completed

FAA and the Park Service have taken steps to implement the act, but 

implementation has been slow and some of the act’s key requirements have 

not been addressed. Implementation of the act has been slow, in part, due 

to disagreements between FAA and the Park Service over the procedures 

necessary to implement the act in compliance with NEPA. While agency 

officials expect to develop ATMPs more quickly in the future now that they 

have drafted an implementation plan, they acknowledge that issues must 

still be addressed before the first ATMP is completed.

FAA and the Park Service 

Have Taken Actions to 

Implement the Act and 

Resolved Some Differences 

That Slowed ATMP 

Development

FAA and the Park Service have taken several actions to implement the act 

and addressed some of its requirements. Specifically: 

• As the act requires, the agencies established the National Parks 

Overflights Advisory Group (advisory group) in April 2001 to provide, 

among other things, continuing advice and counsel about air tours over 

and near national park units. The advisory group is composed of a 

balanced group of representatives of general aviation, air tour 

operators, environmental concerns, and Indian tribes. Since 2001, the 

advisory group has met periodically to discuss issues related to 

implementation, such as interim operating authority, increases in 

operating authority, and noise monitoring in the park units.

• In October 2002, FAA issued a final rule that completed the definition of 

an air tour and informed air tour operators that they must file an 

application for operating authority over national park units by January 

23, 2003, in order to avoid a break in conducting such tours.7

 Operators 

that conducted tours prior to April 5, 2000, may still apply for operating 

authority and may be granted interim operating authority. Owing in part 

to some confusion over application requirements on the part of air tour 

operators, in January 2005 FAA notified air tour operators that they 

could self-correct the information they provided in their applications for 

operating authority.8

 In June 2005, FAA published in the Federal 

Register for public comment the list of air tour operators and the 

number of annual air tours each operator received under interim 

7

67 Fed. Reg. 65662 (Oct. 25, 2002).

8

70 Fed. Reg. 3972 (Jan. 27, 2005).
Page 12 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

operating authority; the comment period closed October 31, 2005.9

• To meet the act’s requirement for developing ATMPs, the agencies began 

developing plans in January 2003 for nine national park units—reduced 

to six in July 2005—for which air tour operators had applied for 

operating authority, with the goal of completing ATMPs at all park units 

by approximately 2010.10

Despite the progress made, officials at both agencies said that 

implementation has been slow because of (1) other priorities that took 

precedence over ATMP development and (2) disagreements between FAA 

and the Park Service over how to implement NEPA in assessing the impact 

of noise on park units. According to FAA officials, the agency temporarily 

suspended work on many rulemaking projects, including air tour 

management, and refocused its resources to address air passenger safety 

and security in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In 

addition, FAA and Park Service officials said the agencies’ differing 

missions and environmental policies have delayed some actions to 

implement the act. For example, FAA and the Park Service have some 

procedural differences over how to implement NEPA in assessing noise 

impacts on park units, including the appropriate noise model to use and the 

noise metrics that are applicable. While NEPA requires the preparation of 

an environmental impact statement for actions having significant 

environmental impacts, the agencies could not agree on the criteria to use 

in determining when noise from aircraft would have a significant impact on 

the environment and park unit resources. To resolve their differences, the 

agencies developed new methodologies to assess the potential adverse 

impacts of air tour noise on park unit resources and visitors’ experiences 

and agreed to a combination of FAA and Park Service guidance and 

practices to implement NEPA. Agency officials explained that the slow 

implementation was also due in part to the unexpected complexities of 

meeting some of the act’s requirements. Thus, it took time to resolve these 

and other issues between the agencies. For example, FAA and the Park 

9

70 Fed. Reg. 36456 (June 23, 2005).

10The agencies began developing ATMPs at nine park units, but three park units in Hawaii 

were removed from the process in July 2005 when air tour operators withdrew their 

applications to conduct air tours over those park units and instead agreed to fly at least one 

half-mile outside those park units. The park units are: Pu’uhonau o Honaunau and KalokoHonokohau National Historical Parks and Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site.
Page 13 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Service developed new procedures to calculate emissions for aircraft that 

conduct air tours.

FAA and the Park Service have taken steps to mitigate their disagreements 

and increase the efficiency of ATMP development. To establish a 

framework for cooperation and participation in implementation, the 

agencies signed a memorandum of understanding that addresses, among 

other things, the scope of work, financial terms, the process for developing 

and approving ATMPs, and outlines a dispute resolution process. Officials 

are to resolve their disagreements at the program level and elevate them to 

higher levels if they cannot resolve them. At the time of this report, the 

agencies had elevated one disagreement and were still working to resolve 

their differences over the language used in the environmental compliance 

documents that describes the purpose and need for an ATMP at a park unit. 

The lack of resolution on this issue could cause further delays, according to 

agency officials. Furthermore, the agencies drafted an implementation plan 

in September 2005 that will guide them through the process of developing 

ATMPs for the remaining park units that need them.11 The draft 

implementation plan establishes criteria for determining the order in which 

park units will develop ATMPs, the roles and responsibilities of FAA and 

the Park Service in developing ATMPs, how to develop ATMPs and the 

supporting environmental compliance documents, how ATMPs will be 

implemented and enforced once completed, and how the plans can be 

changed. As a result, agency officials expect the implementation plan, once 

finished, to help them develop ATMPs at the remaining park units in less 

time than it is taking to develop ATMPs for the first set of park units. 

However, according to FAA officials, it may take 5 more years before all of 

the 94 national park units begin developing ATMPs. Figure 1 summarizes 

the steps taken to implement the act, as of November 2005.

11FAA and the Park Service drafted an implementation plan in September 2005, and it was 

undergoing internal review at both agencies at the time of this report. 
Page 14 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Figure 1: Factors Affecting FAA and the Park Service’s Implementation of the Act as of November 2005

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

7/1/05

Pu’uhonau o Honaunau and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Parks and Pu’ukohola Heiau

National Historic Site removed from the ATMP process.

Deadline for existing air tour operators to apply for operating authority to conduct air tours over national park units without a break in operation.

Federal Register notice initiating ATMPs at six national park units in Hawaii: Haleakala and Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks; Kalaupapa, 

Pu’uhonau o Honaunau, and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Parks; and Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. 

4/5/00

1/27/04

4/16/04

Federal Register notice announcing that the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group will be established on April 5, 2001.

National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 enacted.

National Parks Overflights Advisory Group established.

Federal Register proposed rule to codify the act’s language and establish an air tour ceiling 5,000 feet above ground level.

Terrorist attacks on the United States.

Federal Register final rule to codify the act’s language and establish a 5,000-foot above ground level altitude as the air tour ceiling. 

This rule, effective January 23, 2003, also informs air tour operators of the need to apply to FAA for operating authority.

Memorandum of Understanding signed by FAA.

Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Park Service.

Dispute resolution meeting between FAA and the Park Service.

Federal Register notice initiating ATMPs at Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Federal Register notice allowing air tour operators to self-correct their applications for operating authority.

Deadline for air tour operators to submit self-corrections.

Federal Register notice listing existing air tour operators with interim operating authority.

Deadline to submit comments to FAA regarding the list of air tour operators with interim operating authority.

Source: GAO analysis of FAA and Park Service Information.

Federal Register notice initiating environmental assessments for the six national park units in Hawaii.

3/12/01

4/5/01

4/27/01

9/11/01

10/25/02

1/23/03

10/22/03

1/28/04

2/27/04

1/27/05

2/21/05

6/23/05

10/31/05

9/30/05

Implementation plan drafted and undergoing internal review by FAA and the Park Service.
Page 15 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Key Implementation Issues 

Have Yet to Be Addressed

Despite the progress made, some of the act’s key requirements have not 

been fully implemented. First, at the time of our review, it was unclear 

whether any of the six park units currently developing ATMPs will limit the 

number of air tours authorized, and if so, how competitive bidding will be 

handled. As agency officials acknowledge, they will eventually need to 

address this issue in the implementation plan and in ATMPs. Second, the 

agencies have not identified incentives for air tour operators to adopt 

technology that make aircraft quieter, such as enclosed tail rotors on 

helicopters. In general, air tour operators and FAA officials said that 

incentives are needed because of the high cost of retrofitting old aircraft 

with quiet technology or purchasing new aircraft already equipped with 

quiet technology. However, according to FAA officials, before incentives 

can be provided in an ATMP, noise studies must be conducted to determine 

what impact, if any, quiet technologies would have on park unit resources.12

Although the draft implementation plan broadly addresses quiet technology 

incentives, it acknowledges that such incentives are yet to be devised for 

the first ATMPs underway. FAA and Park Service officials said they expect 

to develop a competitive bidding process and quiet technology incentives 

on a park-unit-by-unit basis and will address these issues before the first 

ATMP is drafted in fiscal year 2007.

Act’s Implementation 

Has Limited Air Tour 

Operators’ Ability to 

Make Major Business 

Decisions but Had 

Little Effect on 

National Park Units

FAA and the Park Service’s implementation of the act has limited the ability 

of air tour operators to make major decisions, such as expanding or selling 

their businesses. FAA, in cooperation with the Park Service, has not 

granted increases in interim operating authority to existing operators, nor 

interim operating authority to new entrants. Furthermore, air tour 

operators face uncertainty about whether they can legally transfer their 

authority to conduct air tours. As a result of the slow implementation of the 

act and the current time frame for developing ATMPs, these adverse effects 

on operators have been prolonged. In addition, as a safety requirement of 

the act, Part 91 operators must apply for more stringent safety certification 

from FAA in order to initiate or continue conducting air tours. In contrast 

to these effects on operators, the implementation of the act has so far had 

little effect on the 112 national park units we surveyed in July 2005. 

Specifically, more than half of the park units reported that the act’s 

12“Quiet technology” is defined in regulations governing air tours in the vicinity of Grand 

Canyon National Park, and the agencies adopted this definition in June 2005 to apply to all 

park units that develop ATMPs.
Page 16 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

implementation had no positive or negative effect on their park unit, and 

about 30 percent were uncertain or did not know. 

Air Tour Operators’ Ability 

to Make Major Business 

Decisions Has Been Limited 

by the Implementation 

Process

FAA and the Park Service’s implementation of the act has limited the ability 

of air tour operators to make major business decisions because FAA, in 

cooperation with the Park Service, has not granted (1) increases in interim 

operating authority to existing operators who applied for such increases or 

(2) interim operating authority to new entrants. Furthermore, air tour 

operators face uncertainty about whether they can legally transfer their 

authority to conduct air tours—which they believe should be valued in the 

marketplace—both during the interim operating period and once an ATMP 

is established. In addition to these uncertainties, in order to maintain the 

level of air tour activity they held prior to the act, Part 91 operators have 

generally decided to invest resources for their operations to meet the more 

stringent level of safety certification required by the act. 

Agencies’ Slow Implementation 

Has Limited Air Tour Operators’ 

Expansion

According to FAA data, four existing operators have applied to FAA for a 

total increase of 7,860 air tours during interim operating authority at two 

park units (see table 1). Although the act allows FAA, in cooperation with 

the Park Service, to grant increases if certain conditions are met, the 

agencies have not done so. As a result, existing operators have not been 

able to expand their air tour businesses over national park units. For 

example, one air tour operator told us it had expanded its air tour business 

over Hawaii Volcanoes National Park at an average annual rate of 22 

percent in the 4 years before it applied for operating authority in 2003. FAA 

granted the operator interim operating authority based on its activity 

during the year prior to the act, and the operator then requested an 

increase in the annual number of tours authorized. Since no increases have 

been granted, the operator has had to reduce the number of tours in order 

to remain compliant with the act. 
Page 17 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Table 1: Park Units Where Existing Operators Have Applied for an Increase in Air 

Tours as of November 2005

Source: FAA.

Existing operators have faced uncertainty about their potential to expand 

their air tour businesses for a longer period of time than expected: nearly 6 

years after the act’s passage, no ATMPs have been completed, and the 

process for developing the vast majority of plans has not even begun. FAA 

officials told us they would like to grant increases in interim operating 

authority, and Park Service officials told us they would consider such 

increases in order to minimize the negative effects of the act’s slow 

implementation on air tour operators. The act allows increases in interim 

operating authority only if it is agreed to by both agencies, and promotes 

safe air tour operations and the protection of national park unit resources. 

Park Service officials said that because such increases could have 

significant environmental impacts, the agencies would either have to 

prepare an environmental assessment or collect additional data on where 

operators propose conducting more tours—such as flight paths, frequency 

of tours, and times of day—to evaluate those impacts prior to approving 

the requested increase in air tours. The two agencies have not reached an 

agreement on how they will handle increases during interim operating 

authority; due to the time and cost involved with an assessment, the 

agencies may not be able to determine whether increases can be granted 

until the assessment associated with the relevant park’s ATMP is 

developed.

The agencies also have not issued interim operating authority to 16 new 

entrants that have applied for authority to conduct tours over a combined 

46 national park units (see table 2). As a result, 10 operators have not been 

able to begin flying tours over any national park units, and 6 existing 

operators have not been able to expand their businesses to include 

additional park units. Among the former, for example, are two new entrant 

companies in Hawaii that told us they had refrained from flying within a 

half-mile of park units, despite customer demand and their own desire to 

grow their businesses. These two new entrants also said they were still 

waiting for official responses from FAA about the applications they filed in 

Park unit

Number of existing operators 

requesting an increase

Number of additional air 

tours requested

Glacier National Park 2 64

Hawaii Volcanoes 

National Park 2 7,796
Page 18 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

January 2003. The longer it takes to fully implement the act in developing 

ATMPs, the longer these and other new entrants may be impaired. 

Table 2: Park Units Where New Entrants Have Applied for Operating Authority as of 

November 2005

Park unit

Number of new 

entrants that have 

applied for operating 

authority

Number of annual 

air tours 

requesteda

Arches National Park 3 104

Aztec Ruins National Monument 1 8

Bryce Canyon National Park 6 956

Canyon de Chelly National Monument 2 840

Canyonlands National Park 4 104

Capitol Reef National Park 2 unknown

Casa Grande Ruins National 

Monument 1 8

Cedar Breaks National Monument 4 104

City of Rocks National Reserve 2 unknown

Colorado National Monument 1 8

Crater Lake National Park 1 8

Craters of the Moon National 

Monument and Preserve 2 unknown

Death Valley National Park 3 6

Devils Postpile National Monument 1 8

Dinosaur National Monument 1 unknown 

Fort Laramie National Historic Site 1 unknown 

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 1 8

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 4 944

Golden Spike National Historic Site 1 unknown 

Grand Teton National Park 1 unknown 

Great Basin National Park 1 unknown 

Hagerman Fossil Beds National 

Monument 1 unknown 

Haleakala National Park 2 4,140

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 1 600

Hovenweep National Monument 2 unknown 

Joshua Tree National Park 1 8

Lake Mead National Recreation Area 4 1,740
Page 19 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Source: FAA.

a

Many of the new entrant operators did not request a specific number of air tours in their applications 

for operating authority, resulting in “unknown” for some of the park units listed in this table.

The act gives FAA, in cooperation with the Park Service, the authority to 

grant interim operating authority to new entrants if certain conditions are 

met: (1) FAA determines the authority is necessary to ensure competition, 

(2) the authority would not create a safety or noise problem, and (3) the 

ATMP has not been developed within 2 years of the act’s passage. Although 

the third condition has been met in all cases, and the first condition might 

be met in some cases, Park Service officials told us they interpret the 

clause regarding noise as triggering the same environmental analysis that is 

needed for an ATMP—unless new entrants provide more data about when 

and where they propose flying. Because the agencies have not reached an 

agreement on how they will handle new entrants during interim operating 

Mesa Verde National Park 1 8

Mount Rainier National Park 1 unknown 

Natural Bridges National Monument 2 unknown 

Navajo National Monument 3 8

North Cascades National Park 

(includes Lake Chelan National 

Recreation Area) 1 unknown 

Olympic National Park 2 48

Organ Pipe Cactus National 

Monument 1 8

Petrified Forest National Park 1 unknown 

Pipe Spring National Monument 3 8

Rainbow Bridge National Monument 2 104

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park 2 16

Sunset Crater Volcano National 

Monument 1 unknown 

Timpanogos Cave National Monument 1 unknown 

Walnut Canyon National Monument 1 unknown 

Wright Brothers National Memorial 1 unknown 

Wupatki National Monument 2 unknown 

Yellowstone National Park 3 8

Yosemite National Park 2 unknown 

Zion National Park 6 959

(Continued From Previous Page)

Park unit

Number of new 

entrants that have 

applied for operating 

authority

Number of annual 

air tours 

requesteda
Page 20 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

authority, they may not be able to determine whether new entrants can be 

accommodated until they develop the relevant ATMPs. In the meantime, 

new entrants—like existing operators seeking increases in interim 

authority—are not able to make important decisions regarding their air 

tour businesses.

Operators Are Uncertain About 

Transferability of Air Tour 

Allocations

Air tour operators are uncertain about whether they can legally transfer 

their flight allocations under the act, both during the period of interim 

operating authority and once an ATMP is completed, because FAA has not 

adequately communicated its opinion on this subject to operators and its 

field offices. As a result, operators have not been able to make major 

business decisions such as retiring or selling their businesses—or have 

made inappropriate decisions to transfer, sell, or buy air tour allocations. 

FAA’s opinion is that operating authority is not a property right or interest. 

However, as both FAA and aviation members of the advisory group stated 

at their June 2005 meeting, operators believe they should be able to 

transfer their air tour allocations if, for instance, an operator wants to go 

out of business. Now that air tours over national park units are regulated, 

they said, an existing operator’s value lies in its pre-2000 level of activity, as 

well as in its pilots and personnel, equipment, reputation, and other 

business assets. If an operator is not able to transfer its air tour allocations, 

advisory group members said there might not be any business to sell. 

FAA officials told us that operators’ uncertainty about their ability to 

transfer their air tour allocations stems from the fact that the act, 

regulations, and formal FAA guidance to its flight standards district offices 

and air tour operators have not addressed this subject. The air tour 

community is aware that while regulations for air tours over Grand Canyon 

National Park specify that operators have no property interest in air tour 

allocations, the regulations nevertheless allow such transfers subject to 

FAA control. And in practice, operators have successfully bought and sold 

allocations for that park unit with FAA’s knowledge. In addition, air tour 

operators have learned that some operators have successfully transferred 

or sold air tour allocations to other operators for other park units, causing 

further confusion about their permissibility. For example, we found one air 

tour operator had paid another operator in January 2003 for 10,911 air tours 

the latter conducted over 11 national park units prior to the act, including 7 

park units over which the purchasing operator had not previously flown. 

Subsequently, the purchasing operator included all but three of these tours 

in its application for operating authority, with the FAA district office’s 

knowledge. FAA granted the operator interim operating authority to 
Page 21 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

conduct a number of tours based on its own historical activity, plus the 

tours purchased from the other operator. 

FAA senior officials and attorneys told us that transfers of air tour 

allocations, whether during the interim period or once an ATMP is 

established, are generally not allowed but should be handled on a case-bycase basis. In a letter to one air tour operator in January 2003, FAA 

described the limited circumstances under which an operator could obtain 

the existing operator status of another operator for the purposes of 

applying for operating authority. Specifically, FAA said both the operator 

and the purchased entity would have to be corporations, and the purchased 

corporation would have to continue to exist as its own legal entity, in order 

for the new owner to obtain the existing operator status. However, this 

letter did not address the broader issue of transferring air tour allocations 

once interim or final operating authority is granted. FAA headquarters 

officials told us they had not widely communicated this letter or the 

agency’s broader position to its district offices or to air tour operators 

because the confusion had not been brought to their attention until our 

review. As a result of this lack of communication, the district offices have 

addressed this issue inconsistently, and there may be deviations from 

headquarters’ position. For example, one operator in South Dakota 

acquired an existing air tour operator in 2001 and applied for operating 

authority, considering its predecessor’s history of air tour activity to be an 

acquired asset. The FAA district office and headquarters officials initially 

considered this operator to be a new entrant and denied it interim 

operating authority, causing it to pursue alternative sources of income for 

2-1/2 years. Then, in mid-2005, FAA headquarters investigated the case and 

granted the purchasing operator interim operating authority because it had 

met the agency’s requirements for obtaining existing operator status. But in 

the example mentioned earlier in which one air tour operator paid another 

operator for 10,911 air tours, another district office was aware of the 

transfer before it issued operating authority. Finally, under the jurisdiction 

of a third district office, we found one operator with two companies has 

allowed one of his companies to use the other company’s air tour 

allocations over several park units—effectively making an inappropriate 

transfer, according to FAA’s position.

Operators Have Generally Opted 

to Invest Resources to Meet 

Higher Standards and Avoid the 

Five-Tour Limit

FAA officials told us that in order to continue their historic levels of air tour 

activity and income, Part 91 operators have to meet the higher standards of 

Part 135 regulations. According to FAA data, 68 of the 77 existing operators 

have been allowed to maintain their pre-2000 level of air tour activity over 

national park units because they were already certified under Part 135 
Page 22 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

regulations. Eight of the remaining nine operators that were Part 91 

operators have applied for Part 135 certification, and one operator chose to 

remain a Part 91 operator. These eight operators have to invest resources in 

additional pilot training and check rides, aircraft inspections, safety 

manuals, record-keeping, and other activities to meet the Part 135 safety 

requirements that go beyond those required under Part 91 regulations.13

Although the amount of investment required to meet Part 135 standards 

varies from one operator to another, FAA officials told us the initial cost 

can vary from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars. 

Alternatively, if Part 91 operators had decided not to apply for the Part 135 

standards required by the act, and they had a high level of air tours prior to 

2000, their loss of air tour business could have been significant. For 

example, one air tour operator applied for operating authority under Part 

135 and reported that it had conducted 5,200 tours over Mount Rushmore 

National Memorial strictly under Part 91 regulations in the year before the 

act. FAA then issued interim operating authority to this operator for 5,200 

tours annually over that park unit because the operator applied for Part 135 

certification.14 But if this operator had not applied for authority under Part 

135, it would have been restricted to five or fewer tours per month over 

that park unit—if it had acquired a letter of agreement signed by both 

agencies. At the time of our review, FAA data showed that only one Part 91 

operator had not applied for Part 135 certification and had received a letter 

of agreement from FAA for up to five flights per month at one park unit. 

However, Park Service officials said this operator had not obtained a letter 

of agreement from the Park Service. 

Act’s Implementation Has 

Had Little Effect on 

National Park Units

A majority of the 112 park units we surveyed in July 2005, as well as Park 

Service officials we spoke with, reported that FAA and the Park Service’s 

implementation of the act has had neither a positive or negative effect on 

13Pilots are required to pass a check ride compliant with Part 135 standards, in the company 

of an FAA inspector, in order to obtain Part 135 certification.

14FAA has implemented the act’s safety requirement such that if a Part 91 operator applies 

for Part 135 certification at the time of its application for operating authority, the operator 

may be “grandfathered” during interim operating authority at its pre-2000 level of air tour 

activity, rather than be limited to the Part 91 exception. However, FAA officials said that 

once an ATMP is completed, such operators would have to be Part 135-certified in order to 

receive final operating authority.
Page 23 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

the park units, yet many still want an ATMP.15 Specifically, 62 (55 percent) 

of the park units reported that the act’s implementation had no positive 

effect on their park unit, and 64 (57 percent) reported no negative effect, 

while only 17 (15 percent) reported a positive effect to some extent and 14 

(13 percent) reported a negative effect to some extent. Another 33 (29 

percent) and 34 (30 percent) park units responded that they were uncertain 

or did not know the effect, positive or negative, respectively. In written 

comments in the survey, 14 of the 112 park units attributed this lack of 

effect to their unit not having air tours.16

The act’s implementation may result in positive, negative, or no effects on 

park units because the level of air tour activity has been held constant over 

park units under interim operating authority. For those park units wanting 

to reduce air tours, interim operating authority has preserved a level of 

activity that those park units already consider too high. On the other hand, 

for those park units where a low level of air tour activity currently exists 

(as defined by those park units), freezing the level of air tours under 

interim operating authority has prevented the growth of air tours. Finally, 

some park unit officials told us there has been no effect and that the status 

quo is acceptable.

Regarding the act’s requirement that FAA and the Park service establish 

ATMPs at all park units where applications for operating authority are 

made, 53 (47 percent) park units responded in the survey that they need an 

ATMP to mitigate or prevent potential adverse impacts on park unit 

resources, visitor experiences, and air safety. Fifty-nine (53 percent) of the 

park units stated that they had air tours over their park units and identified 

how air tours are affecting park unit resources. For example, as shown in 

table 3, 23 (39 percent) of the 59 park units reported a negative effect on 

visitors’ experiences, and 3 (5 percent) reported a positive effect.17 Because 

the agencies plan to first develop ATMPs at park units on the basis of the 

presence of new entrants, higher levels of air tour activity, and other 

priorities, some park units are not likely to have a complete ATMP until 

15Appendix I describes our survey methodology, and appendix II is a copy of our survey with 

the aggregate results. 

16Of the 14 park units, 7 responded that there were no positive and no negative effects, 4 

responded that there was no positive effect, and 3 that there was no negative effect.

17Fifty-one park units did not respond to this question. An additional two park units did not 

respond because they were unsure whether the flights over their park units were air tours or 

some other type of flight.
Page 24 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

2012.18 Some park units we visited told us this delay does no harm because 

they are not substantially affected by air tours, and they are therefore 

satisfied with the act’s limited implementation and the time frame for 

developing ATMPs.

Table 3: Effects of Air Tours on Park Unit Resources Reported by 59 Park Units in 

July 2005

Source: GAO survey results for the 59 park units that responded there were air tours over their park unit.

Issues Remain to 

Improve 

Implementation and 

Enforcement of the Act 

We identified four key issues to be addressed by the Congress and the 

agencies to improve implementation of the act: (1) a lack of flexibility for 

determining which park units should develop ATMPs, (2) an absence of 

Park Service funding for its share of ATMP development costs, (3) limited 

ability to verify and enforce the number of air tours, and (4) FAA’s 

inadequate guidance concerning the act’s safety requirements. 

18FAA’s goal is to draft ATMPs for all park units that had active applications for operating 

authority in 2005 by the end of fiscal year 2010. FAA expects that the rulemaking process for 

each ATMP will take an additional 1 1/2 years.

Number of park units reporting effects of air tours 

on park unit resources

Park resource Positive Negative Both None

Uncertain/ 

Don’t 

know

No 

response

Visitors' experience 3 23 15 5 13 0

Cultural/Historical 

resources 2 15 0 16 25 1

Natural 

resources/Wildlife 1 23 1 9 24 1

Number of visitors to the 

park unit 3 3 1 23 27 2

Other resources 1 4 1 0 4 49
Page 25 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Lack of Flexibility for 

Determining Which Park 

Units Should Develop 

ATMPs

The act requires an ATMP to be developed for any park unit where an 

application for operating authority is made, regardless of the size of the 

park unit, the number of air tours or operators at a park unit, or their 

impact. Thus FAA and the Park Service are not authorized to exclude any 

park units from the ATMP process. The number of air tours authorized at 

park units under interim operating authority ranges from more than 35,000 

to 5 air tours per year.19 Of the 94 park units currently expected to develop 

ATMPs, 49 park units (52 percent) have 61 or more authorized air tours per 

year under interim operating authority. Of the remainder, 36 park units (38 

percent) have 60 or fewer authorized air tours per year, and 9 park units (10 

percent) have no authorized air tours because only new entrants applied 

for authority at those park units.

According to the 112 park units we surveyed, more park units have other 

types of aviation than air tours, and more park units cited those other types 

of aviation as their biggest aviation concern. Specifically, more national 

park units reported having military, general aviation, and high-altitude 

commercial flights than air tours over their park units:20 89 park units (79 

percent) had military overflights, 97 park units (87 percent) had general 

aviation overflights, and 95 park units (85 percent) had high-altitude 

commercial overflights.21 In contrast, 59 park units (53 percent) reported 

having air tours, and 59 park units had other types of overflights, such as 

pesticide spraying, search and rescue, and Park Service research flights.22

Furthermore, when asked to identify the one or two types of overflights 

19The number of annual air tours authorized under interim operating authority at Lake Mead 

National Recreation Area and part of Parashant National Monument totals 68,814. However, 

at the time of our review, FAA officials believed that many of these flights over Lake Mead 

were actually transportation-only flights en route to the Grand Canyon National Park. Such 

flights are exempt from the National Parks Air Tour Management Act, but operators 

nonetheless applied for operating authority because of their uncertainty.

20General aviation generally refers to small, private, or limited commercial aircraft operators 

that must comply with 14 C.F.R. Part 91 requirements. Commercial aviation is generally 

accepted to refer to medium or large aircraft used for air transportation purposes under 14 

C.F.R. Part 121. 

21The number of park units reporting different types of aviation exceeds the 112 park units 

surveyed, and the sum of the percentages exceeds 100 percent, because the park units were 

asked to identify all types of overflights that were applicable at their park unit.

22Although existing operators had interim authority to conduct air tours over more than 59 

park units at the time of our survey, the lower number of park units reporting air tours could 

be explained by operators not using their authority, Park Service officials having difficulty in 

identifying the type of aviation, or some other unknown factor. 
Page 26 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

that had the most negative effect on their park unit, 56 park units cited 

general aviation and 44 park units reported military flights, compared with 

the 33 park units that cited air tours.23

More than half of the 112 park units we surveyed responded either that they 

did not need an ATMP or they were unsure if they needed one, despite the 

act’s current requirement. Specifically, 43 park units (38 percent) reported 

not needing an ATMP, and 16 park units (14 percent) did not know or were 

uncertain about the need for a plan. In our discussions with Park Service 

and FAA officials and air tour operators, we found that voluntary 

agreements at some park units, such as Haleakala and Badlands National 

Parks and the Statue of Liberty National Monument, had successfully 

established air tour routes and elevation levels to minimize impacts from 

air tours on park unit resources and visitors on the ground. These voluntary 

agreements, some of which were adopted prior to the act, are good 

management practices that could be replicated at other park units. For 

example, Haleakala officials started working with air tour operators in the 

early 1990s in response to visitors’ complaints about noise from helicopter 

tours over the park unit’s crater, while recognizing that such tours provide 

an alternative means for visitors to enjoy the park unit. In 1998, the 

Haleakala officials and operators signed an agreement establishing routes 

that keep air tours outside the crater and away from visitor centers but still 

allow air visitors to enjoy the crater from 500 feet above ground level 

within one mile of its southern boundary. In addition, the helicopter 

companies agreed to take punitive action against pilots if there are 

complaints of violations, and Park Service officials and helicopter 

companies meet once a month to discuss issues. As a result of this 

agreement, Haleakala officials and air tour operators told us complaints 

have decreased substantially, and operators have been able to maintain 

their tour businesses. 

If some park units find that they do not need ATMPs, then the agencies will 

save federal dollars if they have the option of not developing such plans. 

FAA estimates spending an average of $405,000—ranging from $257,000 to 

$681,000—on the environmental analyses required at each of the first nine 

23Seventeen park units reported high-altitude commercial flights, 22 park units reported 

other types of overflights as being among the two types of overflights that had the most 

negative effect on their park unit, and 6 park units reported none.
Page 27 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

park units that started developing ATMPs,24 compared with the agency’s 

original estimate of an average $300,000 per park unit. Based on the current 

cost and the number of park units currently expected to develop ATMPs, 

the development of such plans could cost the federal agencies an estimated 

$38 million in current dollars. Officials from both agencies and members of 

the federal advisory group have expressed concern about the cost and time 

required to fully implement the act by developing ATMPs at all 94 park 

units where applications for operating authority were still active as of 

November 2005. In particular, officials at both agencies have questioned 

whether it is cost-effective to develop ATMPs for park units where there is 

a low level of air tour activity or where there is greater concern about other 

environmental impacts, such as vehicular traffic or other types of aviation. 

Within the confines of the act, officials from both agencies said they are 

considering alternatives to the ATMP development approach used at the 

first nine park units—alternatives that these officials believe would fulfill 

the act’s requirements but potentially save the agencies time and money in 

developing the plans. Under NEPA, agencies may adopt procedures to 

determine which actions usually do not have any significant impact on the 

environment and therefore need not be the subject of an environmental 

assessment or impact statement; these actions are referred to as 

categorical exclusions. In cases where the stakeholders agree there are no 

significant impacts from air tours, agency officials said they may be able to 

issue ATMPs using their respective categorical exclusion procedures or 

they could issue an abbreviated environmental assessment. With this in 

mind, FAA has proposed creating an aviation rulemaking committee to 

pursue an expedited ATMP process at park units where there is low air tour 

activity and little public controversy. FAA envisions this rulemaking 

committee could be chaired by a park unit’s superintendent and would 

comprise stakeholders from both agencies, the aviation community, 

environmental groups, the nearby residential community, and any other 

appropriate interest groups. The committee would hold a public hearing 

and create an ATMP that would be published for comment and then issued 

as a final rule. As precedent for this proposal, FAA officials pointed to the 

success of a rulemaking committee it convened in 1999 to address issues 

surrounding the regulation of operations conducted by fractional owners 

24While it is possible that future environmental analyses will cost less due to a park unit’s 

size, increased efficiencies based on lessons learned or alternative methods put into place, 

or other factors, FAA did not have cost projections for future ATMPs at the time of our 

report. 
Page 28 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

and managers.25 That committee, composed of 27 representatives of the 

aviation community and relevant federal agencies, drafted proposed 

regulations and provided the necessary funding to conduct environmental 

and economic analyses of the proposed regulations. 

The two agencies are also considering three other approaches to expedite 

the ATMP process: (1) group several park units under one plan, (2) perform 

one environmental analysis to support multiple ATMPs, or (3) develop an 

environmental impact statement that could be used for as many ATMPs as 

possible nationwide. However, at the time of our review, the agencies had 

not committed to any of these approaches or agreed on when and where 

they might be applied; thus it is too early to know what results may come 

from these efforts. Furthermore, even if they are successful, the agencies 

will still have the responsibility of developing an ATMP for each park unit 

where an operator proposes to conduct air tours, then monitoring air tour 

operators’ compliance with an ATMP and enforcing the ATMP’s 

requirements. These responsibilities require resources beyond the creation 

of the ATMP. As a result, FAA and the Park Service have discussed the 

benefit of legislative changes to the act in order to give the agencies 

authority to determine which park units need an ATMP. FAA officials 

expressed concern that if the agencies were to recommend a legislative 

change to the Congress, it may trigger an environmental review under 

NEPA that is similar to what is already being done to develop the ATMPs, 

which is both costly and time-consuming.26 This would effectively diminish 

the benefits of seeking such a change. FAA and Park Service officials 

concurred that this is an issue the Congress should handle without a formal 

legislative proposal from the agencies.

Absence of Park Service 

Funding for Its Share of 

ATMP Development Costs

The Park Service has not funded its share of the cost of developing ATMPs, 

despite its agreement with FAA to fund 40 percent of this effort. In a 

memorandum of understanding between FAA and the Park Service, the 

agencies agreed that FAA would fund 60 percent and the Park Service 

25Fractional ownership operations began in 1986 with the creation of an industry program 

that offered aircraft owners increased flexibility in the ownership and operation of aircraft. 

This program used current aircraft acquisition concepts, including shared or joint aircraft 

ownership, and provided for the management of the aircraft by an aircraft management 

company.

26NEPA regulations require an environmental impact statement to accompany a legislative 

proposal that would have significant environmental effects.
Page 29 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

would fund 40 percent of the cost of developing ATMPs. The agreement 

describes the qualifying costs as external contractor costs required to 

produce ATMPs. These qualifying costs exclude staff salaries, benefits, and 

travel for agency personnel; agency equipment and supplies; and any costs 

for in-house contractors hired by either agency. From fiscal year 2001 

through fiscal year 2005, FAA has funded 100 percent of the initial ATMPs’ 

development, which amounts to $27 million through distinct budget 

appropriations,27 while the Park Service had not requested or received any 

dedicated funding for the program until fiscal year 2006 when Congress 

provided $500,000 toward air tour management. Although the Park Service 

has also contributed staff time to work with FAA on the development of 

ATMPs, the cost of doing so does not count toward its 40 percent 

obligation, according to the memorandum of understanding. FAA officials 

said at the current estimate of an average $405,000 per park unit for ATMP 

development, the agency estimates it will cost an additional $13 million for 

fiscal years 2006 through 2010, for a total program cost since 2001 of about 

$38 million for 94 ATMPs. At that level, FAA has already received about 67 

percent of the total ATMP cost—if the Park Service receives funds for the 

remaining $13 million that FAA estimates is needed, that will be just 33 

percent of the total cost. If the Park Service does not meet its obligation 

within the next 2 years, according to FAA and Park Service officials, 

implementation may be hindered. However, officials from both agencies 

said adoption of alternative approaches to the ATMP process could lower 

costs.

Limited Ability to Verify and 

Enforce the Number of Air 

Tours 

FAA and existing laws and regulations do not require operators to record 

and report the number of air tours they conduct over national park units.28

Consequently, FAA and the Park Service lack a mechanism to verify the 

number of air tours conducted over national park units, both historically 

and under interim operating authority. Of the 25 existing operators we 

interviewed, 23 told us they had used a variety of documents, such as flight 

logs and ticket sales receipts, to estimate their pre-2000 air tour activity in 

their applications for operating authority. However, FAA officials and 

27Of the $29 million FAA has received through distinct budget appropriations to develop 

ATMPs, FAA has directed about $27 million to the Volpe Center and approximately $2 

million to internal FAA costs.

28Regulations do require air tour operators to record and report their flight activity over 

Grand Canyon National Park to FAA, but this park unit is exempt from the National Parks 

Air Tour Management Act of 2000. 
Page 30 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

operators said the quality of these data varied since there is no recordkeeping requirement, and two operators told us they had no records of 

their pre-2000 activity. In addition, we found two operators had deliberately 

inflated their estimates to ensure some growth in future years—even 

though that action ran counter to the act’s intent. Specifically:

• According to one air tour operator, because of the act’s passage in 2000, 

the operator started keeping track of its air tours and deliberately 

inflated the number reported in its application for operating authority in 

2003 to allow for future expansion. Without the documentation to verify 

this information, FAA issued interim operating authority to this operator 

for the inflated amount, and this operator has not had to limit its tours in 

recent years as it might have if it had reported actual numbers. 

• Another operator with one pilot applied for operating authority at 

dozens of park units spanning 6 Western states totaling more than 1,500 

air tours annually. FAA and Park Service officials said it was unlikely 

this operator could have conducted that many tours, and in their view, 

the company had inflated the amount of tours it reported. However, 

without reliable data to prove or disprove the operator’s claim, FAA 

granted the company interim operating authority for the reported 

activity.

In addition, without reliable air tour data, FAA and the Park Service cannot 

determine whether operators are violating their interim authority. As a 

result, the agencies are limited in their ability to enforce the act. We 

determined 3 of the 25 existing operators we interviewed were exceeding 

the number of tours they were authorized to conduct under interim 

operating authority, flying over park units for which they did not have 

authority, or both. For example, one owner told us his company was 

exceeding its interim operating authority by more than 3,000 tours per year 

over a major national park unit, and was conducting tours over two other 

park units for which it had no authority. 

According to FAA officials, it is in an operator’s best interest to keep 

records of its tours over national park units to verify the number of tours 

conducted, and some operators are doing so as a good business practice. 

Without a requirement for operators to maintain and report such records, 

however, the agencies cannot take appropriate action to enforce the act or 

deter violations. Consequently, those operators who deliberately inflated 

their pre-2000 flight activity in their applications enjoy higher levels of 

activity under interim operating authority than the act intended, and thus 
Page 31 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

may have a competitive advantage over operators who provided more 

accurate data.

To address this problem, FAA told us, legislation or rulemaking is needed to 

require operators to maintain and report records during the interim 

operating period. Once an ATMP for a park unit is completed, agency 

officials believe each ATMP should include reporting requirements in order 

to make the act enforceable. However, at the time of our review, FAA, as 

the agency responsible for regulating air tour operators, had not decided 

how it would implement a reporting requirement.

FAA’s Inadequate Guidance 

Concerning the Act’s Safety 

Requirements

FAA has not instructed its flight standards district offices or air tour 

operators on how to interpret and enforce the act’s requirements for Part 

91 operators, which are now required to meet the safety standards of Part 

135 regulations. Under an exemption in the act, Part 91 operators may 

continue to be regulated under Part 91 if they obtain a letter of agreement 

from FAA and the relevant park unit’s superintendent and are limited to a 

combined total of five air tours per park unit per month. We found that 3 of 

the 29 companies we interviewed had not taken steps for all their pilots and 

aircraft to meet Part 135 standards, had not obtained letters of agreement 

from the two agencies, and were exceeding the five-tour limit using pilots 

and/or aircraft qualified only for Part 91 operations. Furthermore, we found 

that the number of tours conducted by one operator’s Part 91 pilots and 

aircraft exceeded its interim operating authority. Specifically, this operator 

employed a single pilot and a single helicopter qualified for Part 135 

operations, and seven pilots and three helicopters under Part 91 

regulations, to conduct tours within a half-mile of a major national park 

unit. The operator’s manager estimated those Part 91 pilots and aircraft had 

given hundreds of tours within one half-mile of a national park unit in the 

previous year. The manager believed the interim operating authority 

applied only to himself and his one Part 135-certified helicopter, and did 

not apply to the other pilots and aircraft. 

Officials in the two FAA flight standards district offices overseeing the 

three operators mentioned above were either not aware of these 

circumstances or believed the operators were in compliance with the act 

because they had at least a single pilot and single aircraft that were Part 

135-certified. According to officials at the district office who were aware of 

the circumstances, the fact that those operators used additional pilots and 

aircraft qualified for only Part 91 operations was immaterial and not a 

violation of the act. FAA attorneys and other agency managers disagreed, 
Page 32 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

indicating the operators mentioned above were in violation. They 

interpreted the act to mean that unless an operator chose to operate under 

the Part 91 restrictions, all pilots and aircraft conducting tours over 

national park units should meet Part 135 standards in order to increase 

safety. Until our review, FAA officials said the issue had not been brought 

to their attention, and they agreed that interpretation of the act by some 

FAA district offices seemed to be inconsistent. 

We found that the guidance FAA headquarters provided to district offices 

and air tour operators regarding the requirements for operating authority 

applications was not clear about this issue. For instance, the guidance did 

not require the companies to identify the number of pilots they employed, 

or what specific certification level those pilots and their aircraft were 

qualified for. In the three cases where we found the companies were 

exceeding the five-tour limit using Part 91 pilots and aircraft, their 

applications for operating authority did not disclose their additional pilots, 

they did not specify the level of certification their aircraft met, or both. 

Furthermore, both the act and FAA guidance routinely use the term 

“operator,” which is broadly defined to refer to companies, corporations, 

individuals, and other entities. Agency officials said the scope of the act’s 

intentions was not clear on this matter, and the common use and 

interpretation of the term “operator” as a business—not an individual—

could have caused confusion within the aviation community. 

Conclusions The National Parks Air Tour Management Act provided FAA and the Park 

Service with new authority to regulate air tours over national park units to 

ensure that the noise from such tours does not impair visitors’ experiences 

or damage park unit resources. However, some of the act’s requirements, 

and FAA’s and the Park Service’s slow implementation, have had 

unintended consequences on air tour operators and relevant park units. 

The level of air tours over the park units has been held constant under 

interim operating authority at pre-2000 levels for nearly 6 years because no 

ATMPs have yet been completed. FAA and the Park Service, air tour 

operators, and some members of Congress did not envision that so many 

park units and air tour operators would be operating under interim 

operating authority for so long. Maintaining the level of air tour activity for 

those park units that were adversely affected by air tours may be justified 

while the agencies try to assess their impacts. However, according to the 

112 park units we surveyed, many of the park units currently scheduled to 

get an ATMP may not need one for the foreseeable future—but the act does 
Page 33 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

not provide the agencies with any flexibility to determine which park units 

do not need ATMPs. While the agencies are currently considering more 

cost-effective methods for developing ATMPs within the confines of the 

act, it is too early to know what results may come from those efforts. 

Amending the act to authorize the agencies to determine which park units 

should develop ATMPs would go a long way to addressing the unintended 

consequences of the act at a number of park units, and could save federal 

dollars by not requiring the development of ATMPs for some park units. 

Park units identified as needing an ATMP would continue to be regulated 

under the act as they are now, while the other park units that do not 

currently need an ATMP would become unregulated, thus allowing existing 

operators at those park units to grow their businesses and new entrants to 

begin operating. At any time in the future, should the level of air tour 

activity at an unregulated park unit expand to such a level so as to warrant 

the development of an ATMP, the agencies would have the necessary 

authority to begin regulating the air tours at that park unit. This flexibility 

would also encourage park units and air tour operators, under the threat of 

becoming regulated, to negotiate and comply with voluntary agreements to 

mitigate the impacts of air tours.

In amending the act, the Congress could consider different processes and 

criteria for the agencies to determine which park units will develop ATMPs. 

For example, Congress, in consultation with the agencies, could establish a 

process with specific criteria that the agencies use to determine which park 

units should have ATMPs. Other options Congress could consider are a 

nomination process with approval by the National Parks Overflights 

Advisory Group, or a process whereby the agencies could assess the need 

for an ATMP based on the likelihood of potential significant adverse 

impacts.

FAA has determined, but not effectively communicated or consistently 

enforced, the circumstances under which air tour operators may or may 

not transfer or sell their air tour allocations. As a result, air tour operators 

do not know if they should plan to expand, reduce, or even sell their 

business. Since some air tour operators have assumed that their air tour 

allocations can be transferred or sold, they have been doing so, with the 

knowledge and approval of their local FAA flight standards district offices, 

contrary to the position of FAA headquarters.

For consistent enforcement of the number of air tours authorized under 

interim operating authority, and ultimately under ATMPs, FAA and the Park 

Service must be able to verify the number of air tours conducted over a 
Page 34 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

national park unit by each authorized operator. Since air tour operators are 

currently not required to maintain and report information on their air tours, 

FAA and the Park Service are unable to enforce the air tour allocations. By 

not enforcing the air tour allocations, the agencies are allowing operators 

that are exceeding their allocations to have an unfair business advantage 

over those operators that are complying with the act and may also have 

adverse impacts on visitors’ experiences and park unit resources.

Finally, consistent enforcement of air tour operators’ allocations over 

national park units, both under interim operating authority and once an 

ATMP is established, is vital to controlling the impacts from air tour noise 

on the national park units and in ensuring a level playing field among all the 

air tour operators. Nearly 6 years after the passage of the act, a great deal of 

confusion remains regarding the act’s safety requirements. FAA has not 

provided definitive guidance to its flight standards district offices on how 

they should interpret and enforce the act’s safety requirements and 

exemption for Part 91 operators. As a result, this provision has generally 

not been enforced, and some air tour operators are not in compliance with 

act. 

Matter for 

Congressional 

Consideration

To allow more cost-effective implementation of the National Parks Air Tour 

Management Act, Congress may wish to consider amending the act to 

authorize the agencies to determine which park units should develop 

ATMPs.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

To improve compliance, enforcement, and implementation of the National 

Parks Air Tour Management Act, we recommend that the Secretary of 

Transportation direct the Administrator of FAA to take the following three 

actions:

• Communicate the agency’s position to its district offices on whether 

operating authority is transferable or sellable under both interim and 

final operating authority, and if so, under what conditions.

• Establish a procedure for air tour operators to record and report to FAA 

and the Park Service the number of air tours they conduct over national 

park units, under both interim and final operating authority.
Page 35 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

• Clearly communicate to FAA district offices how to interpret, and thus 

enforce, the act’s requirements for Part 91 air tour operators.

Agency Comments and 

Our Evaluation

We provided the Departments of Transportation and the Interior with a 

draft of this report for review and comment. The Department of 

Transportation offered technical comments and otherwise generally agreed 

with the findings of this report and agreed to consider our 

recommendations as they move forward with the program. The 

Department of the Interior provided written comments that are included in 

appendix VI, along with our specific response. Interior generally agreed 

with our findings and recommendations, but it questioned whether 

Congress needs to amend the act to give the agencies greater flexibility. 

Interior commented that it was concerned that amending the act could 

“unnecessarily or unwittingly” jeopardize the protection of park resources 

and visitor enjoyment by excluding some park units from the ATMP 

process solely based on their level of air tour activity. Furthermore, Interior 

commented that there are several administrative remedies available to the 

agencies that might be best used to address those park units with low air 

tour activity. We agree that any amendments to the act should preserve the 

Park Service’s authority to develop an ATMP at any park unit it deems 

necessary and that park units should not be arbitrarily excluded from the 

process solely based on their level of air tour activity. However, we 

disagree that existing administrative remedies would provide the flexibility 

that is needed to achieve the most effective and efficient implementation of 

the act. The purpose of providing flexibility in the act is not to exclude park 

units that need ATMPs, but rather to provide the agencies the flexibility not 

to develop ATMPs for park units where the agencies deem them to be 

unnecessary. In its comments, Interior suggested support for this approach 

by stating that it “... would agree to a general grant of authority which 

would provide the agencies discretion to make such determinations based 

on agency developed criteria that goes beyond simply the level of air tour 

activity.” 

Interior also provided technical comments and editorial suggestions that 

we have incorporated throughout the report, as appropriate.
Page 36 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretaries of Transportation 

and the Interior, and other interested parties. We will also make copies 

available to others upon request. In addition, the report will be available at 

no charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov. Contact points for 

our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 

the last page of this report.

If you or your staff have questions about this report, please contact me at 

(202) 512-3841 or nazzaror@gao.gov. Key contributions to this report are 

listed in appendix VII.

Robin M. Nazzaro

Director, Natural Resources

and Environment 
Page 37 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

List of Requesters

The Honorable Daniel Inouye

Co-Chairman

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

United States Senate

The Honorable Jeff Bingaman

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

United States Senate

The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka

Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on National Parks 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

United States Senate

The Honorable Lamar Alexander

United States Senate

The Honorable John McCain

United States Senate
Page 38 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix I

Scope and Methodology AAppenednxidexiIs

We identified and analyzed applicable laws, regulations, policies, and 

procedures to determine what actions the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) and the National Park Service (Park Service) have taken to 

implement the act and what remains to be addressed. Specifically, we used 

the act to identify what actions the agencies were required to take. To learn 

what actions FAA and the Park Service have taken to implement the act’s 

requirements, we reviewed notices and regulations published in the 

Federal Register and agency documents, and interviewed agency officials 

at FAA and Park Service headquarters, FAA district offices, and national 

park units, and air tour operators. We selected a nonprobability sample of 

12 park units to visit because 9 of the 12 were the first park units FAA and 

the Park Service chose to develop air tour management plans (ATMPs), and 

the other 3 faced circumstances that differed from the first 9: one had a 

military flight restriction, one was a potential candidate for an alternative 

method for developing an ATMP, and one believed an ATMP was not 

needed because it had so few air tours. The 12 park units are: Great Smoky 

Mountains, Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakala, and Badlands National Parks; 

Kalaupapa, Pu’uhonau o Honaunau, and Kaloko-Honokohau National 

Historical Parks; Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site; the USS Arizona 

Memorial; Lake Mead National Recreation Area; and Mount Rushmore 

National Memorial.

We assessed budget data describing the Park Service’s requests for annual 

appropriations and FAA’s funding dedicated to developing ATMPs, 

including those funds obligated to the Volpe Center. This budget 

information covered the fiscal years 2001 through 2006 and were obtained 

from budget appropriation reports, the agencies’ budget requests, and 

budget summaries provided by FAA and the Volpe Center. We determined 

that these data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report. We 

also assessed data describing the number of air tours by operators over 

various national park units. Of interest were data on numbers of air tour 

operators, including existing operators, new entrants, and total applicants, 

as well as numbers of annual authorized air tours and new or increased 

authority requested. We interviewed agency officials regarding a series of 

data reliability questions addressing areas such as data entry, data access, 

quality control procedures, and data accuracy and completeness. We asked 

follow-up questions whenever necessary. We determined that these data 

were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report. 

To assess how air tour operators have been affected by the implementation 

of the act, we reviewed FAA and Park Service documents, documents 

provided by air tour operators, and interviewed a sample of 29 operators at 
Appendix I

Scope and Methodology

Page 39 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

the 12 different park units we visited. Where appropriate, we used 

documents provided by the operators, FAA, and the Park Service to 

corroborate information we collected from interviews with the air tour 

operators. To choose the operators to interview, we divided the operators 

at each park into 3 groups based on the number of annual air tours they 

were granted under interim operating authority—small (3,000 or fewer air 

tours), medium (between 3,001 and 10,000 air tours), and large (more than 

10,000 air tours). Next, we randomly selected operators in each group and 

met with at least three in each group; we also met with all new entrant 

operators regardless of the number at each park unit. The air tour 

operators we interviewed are: Adventure Air, LC.; Air Grand Canyon, Inc.; 

American Aviation, Inc.; Aris, Inc.; Aviation Ventures, Inc.; Badger 

Helicopters, Inc.; Big Island Air, Inc.; Black Hills Aerial Adventures, Inc.; 

Call Air, Inc.; Eagle Aviation, Inc.; Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc.; Great 

Smoky Mountains Helicopter, Inc.; Helicopter Consultants of Maui, Inc.; 

K & S Helicopters, Inc.; King Airelines, Inc.; Manuiwa Airways, Inc.; 

Maverick Helicopters, Inc.; Mauiscape Helicopters, Inc.; Mokulele Flight 

Service, Inc.; Rainbow Pacific Helicopters, Ltd.; Rambo Helicopter Charter, 

Inc.; Rushmore Helicopters, Inc.; Safari Aviation, Inc.; Scenic Airlines, Inc.; 

Schuman Aviation, Co. Ltd.; Vista Helicopter Services, Inc.; Skycraft Air 

Maintenance, Ltd.; Sunshine Helicopters, Inc.; and Windrock Aviation, LLC.

To assess how the national park units have been affected by 

implementation of the act, we reviewed FAA and Park Service documents, 

conducted a survey of all 112 national park units identified to develop 

ATMPs as of July 2005, interviewed representatives of the 12 park units we 

visited, and also interviewed FAA and Park Service officials at their 

headquarters offices. We surveyed all national park units where air tour 

operators had applied for operating authority, which includes existing and 

new entrant operators. Ten tribal lands within or abutting national park 

units were also identified as needing to be part of the ATMPs developed at 

the relevant park units, but our review is limited to the implementation of 

the act at national park units. Since our survey was conducted, some air 

tour operators withdrew their applications and other corrections were 

made by FAA, which resulted in a reduced number of park units that have 

been identified to develop ATMPs—as of November 2005, there are 94 park 

units identified to develop ATMPs, which are listed in appendix III. 

We designed our survey with the assistance of a GAO methodologist. 

During its design, we reviewed a similar survey conducted by the National 

Parks Conservation Association and also obtained input from FAA and 

Park Service officials. Even though we surveyed all 112 national park units 
Appendix I

Scope and Methodology

Page 40 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

identified to develop ATMPs as of July 2005, the practical difficulties of 

conducting any survey may introduce other types of errors, commonly 

referred to as “nonsampling error.” For example, differences in how a 

particular question is interpreted or the sources of information available to 

respondents can introduce unwanted variability into the survey results. We 

included steps in both the data collection and data analysis stages for 

purposes of minimizing such nonsampling errors. We pretested the content 

and format of the survey with three national park units. We also had the 

survey independently reviewed by a GAO survey specialist. Based on the 

results of these pretests and reviews, we revised the survey instrument as 

appropriate. All returned surveys were reviewed, and we called 

respondents to obtain follow-up information when questions were not 

answered or clarification was needed.

Our survey response rate was 100 percent. All survey data were 

keypunched, and then an additional sample of the data were verified as an 

added check for accuracy of the information. The data were then 

summarized and tabulated, and the aggregate results are included in 

appendix II. It is worth noting that not all park units surveyed responded to 

question 6. In this question, park units were asked to identify what effect, if 

any, air tours over the park unit have had on the following resources: 

visitors’ experience, cultural/historical resources, natural 

resources/wildlife, number of visitors to the park unit, and other resources. 

Fifty-one park units indicated that they do not have air tours, which would 

imply that the remaining 61 of the 112 park units surveyed do have air 

tours. Yet, 59 park units responded that they do have air tours and 2 park 

units did not respond because they were unsure whether the flights over 

their park units were air tours or some other type of flight. 

We conducted our work from January 2005 through January 2006 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Page 41 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix II

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 

National Park Units ApendxiI

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 National Park Units 

United States Government Accountability Office

Survey of National Park Service on Air Tour 

Management

Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to complete the following brief survey, which the U.S. Government 

Accountability Office (GAO) is using to assess the effect of the National Parks Air Tour Management Act 

of 2000 on National Park Units nationwide. Senators Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), 

Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and John McCain (R-AZ) have requested GAO, as an 

independent Congressional agency, to review the implementation of the Act by the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) and the National Park Service (NPS). This important survey will help inform our 

review of the Act and its implementation to date.

The following survey is designed to gauge the effects, both positive and negative, of commercial air tours 

on the National Park Units. For example, sound from such tours might have a negative effect on visitors’

experiences, wildlife, or other Park Unit resources. On the other hand, air tours might have a positive 

effect by allowing elderly, disabled, and other persons to experience the Park Unit. Thus the effects could 

be positive and/or negative; please respond to the following questions with all effects that apply.

This survey should take about 15 minutes or less to complete. Please read the following instructions

carefully before starting the survey.

Completing the Survey 

This survey can be completed on your computer. To do this, first save the

MSWord file containing the survey to your computer. You may then enter your

responses directly to that file.

Completing the survey is very simple. There are only a few rules to follow. 

x Please use your mouse to navigate by clicking on the field or check box you wish to answer. 

x To select a check box, simply click on the center of the box and an ‘X’ will appear.

x To change or deselect a check box response, simply click on the checked box and the ‘X’ will 

disappear.

x To respond to a question that requires that you enter an answer or write a comment, click on the

answer box [ ] and begin typing. You may type as much as you wish, the box will expand to

accommodate your answer.

Please identify the individual at your particular Park Unit who is most knowledgeable of this subject area, 

if not yourself, to complete this survey by Friday, July 22, 2005; we would like only 1 response per Park 

Unit. Also, please answer these questions from your perspective as a National Park Service 

representative, rather than expressing your personal opinion as a private individual. If you need

additional room for written comments, please use the last page and/or submit additional text, and be sure 

to indicate which question(s) your additional comments address.
Appendix II

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 

National Park Units

Page 42 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Please email your completed survey to XXXX at XXXX, or fax it to: XXXX with Attn: XXXX on the 

cover sheet. Please complete and return this survey by Friday, July 22, 2005. We understand there are 

great demands on your time; however, your response is crucial to provide important information to 

Congress.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. 

Contact

If your response will be delayed, or if you have any questions, please call or email:

XXXX

E-mail: XXXX 

Phone: XXXX 

State Contact 

Please enter the following information in the event we need to clarify a 

response.

Park Unit Name: 

Contact Name: 

Contact Title: 

E-mail address:

Telephone number (area code): 

Fax number (area code):
Appendix II

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 

National Park Units

Page 43 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Survey Questions 

Definition: For the following survey questions, the word effect refers to the positive and/or negative

impacts of commercial air tours on visitors’ experiences in the Park Unit, on Park Unit resources, and/or 

on the number of visitors to the Park Unit. 

1. Which of the following types of overflights are there over your Park Unit? (Please check all that 

apply):

N=89 Military

N=97 General Aviation (private, non-commercial flights)

N=59 Commercial air tours (sightseeing, fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters that fly less than 5,000 

feet above ground level and within a National Park Unit or within a 1⁄2 mile outside its 

boundary)

N=95 High-elevation commercial (jets used for transportation; fly at least 5,000 feet above ground

level)

N=59 Other — please specify:

N= 2 None Æ Please go to question 4

 N= 2 Uncertain/don’t know Æ Please go to question 4 

* The number of responses for Question 1 is greater than 112 because the respondent could select 

more than one answer. The 59 respondents that answered other specified that other types of 

aviation include agricultural pesticide spraying, Park Service research, fire management, search 

and rescue, medical evacuation, law enforcement, hot air balloon, ultralight aircraft, and other

federal agency flights. 

2. Of the types of overflights that you checked in Question 1, which one or two types of overflights have 

the most negative effect on your Park Unit? (Note: For Questions 2 and 3, it is possible to view the 

same types of overflights as having both positive and negative effects.)

 1). N=107

2). N=73

* The number of responses for Question 2 is greater than 112 because the respondent could 

provide up to two answers. The responses included Military – 44, General Aviation – 56, 

Commercial Air Tours – 33, High-Elevation Commercial – 17, Other – 22, None – 6. 

3. Of the types of overflights that you checked in Question 1, which one or two types of overflights have 

the most positive effect on your Park Unit? (Note: For Questions 2 and 3, it is possible to view the 

same types of overflights as having both positive and negative effects.) 

 1). N=77

2). N=19

* The number of responses for Question 3 is greater than 112 because the respondent could 

provide up to two answers. The responses included Military – 4, General Aviation – 11,

Commercial Air Tours – 9, High-Elevation Commercial – 4, Other – 30, None –29,

Uncertain/Don’t Know –2. 
Appendix II

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 

National Park Units

Page 44 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

4. Since April 2000, has your Park Unit received written complaints from visitors about any type of 

overflights?

N=26 Yes ........................ Æ Please go to question 5.

N=77 No.......................... Æ Please go to question 6.

N= 9 Uncertain/don’t know Æ Please go to question 6.

5. Please enter the number of written complaints for each type of applicable overflights that your Park

Unit has received in the fiscal years listed below. (Note: It is acceptable to provide estimates; 

however, please indicate if you are doing so by noting (E) after the number):

Type of Overflights FY

2000

FY

2001

FY

2002

FY

2003

FY

2004

FY

2005

Military ******

General

Aviation ******

Commercial

Air Tours ******

High-elevation

Commercial ******

Other (please specify) ******

* Question 5 was not reported because the data were unreliable 

6. If there are commercial air tours over your Park Unit, what effect, if any, have they had on the 

following? (Please check all that apply):

 Uncertain/ 

 Positive Negative Both None don’t know

Visitors’ experience.......................................N=3 N=23 N=15 N=5 N=13

Cultural/Historical resources.........................N=2 N=15 N=0 N=16 N=25

Natural resources/Wildlife.............................N=1 N=23 N=1 N=9 N=24

Number of visitors to the Park Unit ..............N=3 N=3 N=1 N=23 N=27

Other—please specify: N=7

(Number of respondents who provided

comments)

N=1 N=4 N=1 N=0 N=4

If there are commercial air tours over your Park Unit, please explain your answer: N=52 (Number of 

respondents who provided comments)

N=51 There are no commercial air tours over the Park Unit Æ Please go to question 8

Note: Fifty-one park units indicated that they do not have air tours, which would imply that the 

remaining 61 of the 112 park units surveyed do have air tours. Yet, only 59 park units 

responded. The remaining two park units were unsure as to whether the flights over their park 

units were air tours or some other type of flight. As a result, these two park units did not 

respond to question 6. 
Appendix II

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 

National Park Units

Page 45 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

7. In your opinion as a NPS representative, does your Park Unit have a level of commercial air tour 

activity to warrant the cost of collecting business-use fees from air tour operators? 

 Yes ....................................N=15

 No.....................................N=26

 Uncertain/don’t know.......N=20

8. The National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 requires FAA and NPS to jointly 

develop an Air Tour Management Plan for every Park Unit with commercial air tours. 

Regardless of this requirement, do you think your Park Unit needs an Air Tour Management 

Plan to mitigate or prevent potential impacts to Park resources, visitor use, and air safety? 

 Yes ....................................N=53

 No.....................................N=43

 Uncertain/don’t know.......N=16

Please explain your answer: N=83 (Number of respondents who provided comments)

9. Has your Park Unit entered into any agreements, formal or informal, with commercial air tour 

operators in recent years? 

 Yes ....................................N=12

 No.....................................N=99

 Uncertain/don’t know.......N=1

If yes, please briefly describe these agreements: N=15 (Number of respondents who provided comments)

10. Does your Park Unit collect fees upon entry from commercial bus tours using an Incidental Business 

Permit? 

N=22 Yes .......................... ÆPlease go to question 11.

N=86 No........................... ÆPlease go to question 12.

N=4 Uncertain/don’t know ÆPlease go to question 12.

11. How many commercial bus tours entered your Park Unit in fiscal year 2004, and how much did you 

collect in fees in fiscal year 2004 from these commercial bus tours? (Note: It is acceptable to provide 

estimates; however, please indicate if you are doing so by noting (E) after the number.)

Number of commercial bus tours in FY 2004: _______*___________ 

 Amount collected in commercial bus tour fees in FY 2004: : _____*_____________ 

* Question 11 was not reported because the data were unreliable 
Appendix II

Survey Instrument and Results from 112 

National Park Units

Page 46 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

12. Since the National Parks Air Tour Management Act was passed in 2000, to what extent has the 

implementation of the Act had a positive effect on your Park Unit?

 To no extent (no effect)......N=62

To a small extent ................N=9

 To a moderate extent ..........N=7

 To a great extent.................N=1

To a very great extent.........N=0

 Uncertain/don’t know........N=33

Please explain your answer: N=60 (Number of respondents who provided comments)

13. Since the National Parks Air Tour Management Act was passed in 2000, to what extent has the 

implementation of the Act had a negative effect on your Park Unit? 

 To no extent (no effect)......N=64

To a small extent ................N=7

 To a moderate extent..........N=5

 To a great extent.................N=1

To a very great extent.........N=1

 Uncertain/don’t know........N=34

Please explain your answer: N=51 (Number of respondents who provided comments)

14. No questionnaire of this type can cover every relevant topic. If you wish to expand on your answers 

or comment on any other topic related to the National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000 or its 

implementation, please use the space below and/or submit additional text. 

N=56 (Number of respondents who provided comments)

Thank you for your time and participation in this important survey – we greatly appreciate your input!
Page 47 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix III

Applications for Operating Authority by 

National Park Unit ApendxiI

Name of park unit

Existing operators 

with interim 

operating authority

Air tours authorized 

under interim 

operating authority

New entrant 

operator 

applications

Air tours requested 

by new entrant 

operatorsa

Acadia National Park 2 4,585 0 0

Arches National Park 11 675 3 104

Aztec Ruins National Monument 1 83 1 8

Badlands National Park 2 4,117 0 0

Bandelier National Monument 1 126 0 0

Big Bend National Park 1 5 0 0

Big Cypress National Preserve 1 1,260 0 0

Biscayne National Park 1 200 0 0

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park 1 7 0 0

Bryce Canyon National Park 15 3,488 6 956

Canyon de Chelly National Monument 5 177 2 840

Canyonlands National Park 11 1,039 4 104

Cape Hatteras National Seashore 3 8,170 0 0

Capitol Reef National Park 8 334 2 unknown

Capulin Volcano National Monument 1 13 0 0

Carlsbad Caverns National Park 1 18 0 0

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument 1 6 1 8

Cedar Breaks National Monument 6 79 4 104

Chaco Culture National Historical Park 1 147 0 0

City of Rocks National Reserve 0 0 2 unknown

Colonial National Historical Park 1 147 0 0

Colorado National Monument 1 57 1 8

Coronado National Memorial 1 5 0 0

Crater Lake National Park 0 0 1 8

Craters of the Moon National Monument and 

Preserve 0 0 2 unknown

Death Valley National Park 7 67 3 6

Devils Postpile National Monument 0 0 1 8

Devils Tower National Monument 1 22 0 0

Dinosaur National Monument 1 9 1 unknown

Dry Tortugas National Park 1 100 0 0

El Malpais National Monument 1 43 0 0

El Morro National Monument 1 43 0 0

Everglades National Park 1 674 0 0
Appendix III

Applications for Operating Authority by 

National Park Unit

Page 48 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Fort Bowie National Historic Site 1 5 0 0

Fort Davis National Historic Site 1 5 0 0

Fort Laramie National Historic Site 0 0 1 unknown

Fort Union National Monument 1 320 0

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 1 26 1 8

Glacier National Park 8 1,793 0 0

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 15 14,074 4 944

Golden Gate National Recreation Area 

(includes Alcatraz Island, Muir Woods National 

Monument, Presidio of San Francisco, and Fort 

Point National Historic Site) 1 2,900 0 0

Golden Spike National Historic Site 1 11 1 unknown

Governors Island National Monument 1 29,4320 0

Grand Teton National Park 4 74 1 unknown

Great Basin National Park 0 0 1 unknown

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve 1 16 0 0

Great Smoky Mountains National Park 2 1,920 0 0

Guadalupe Mountains National Park 1 18 0 0

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument 0 0 1 unknown

Haleakala National Park 10 26,325 2 4,140 

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 14 28,441 1 600 

Hohokam Pima National Monument 1 5 0 0

Hovenweep National Monument 3 92 2 unknown

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 1 27 0 0

Joshua Tree National Park 0 0 1 8

Kalaupapa National Historical Park 5 2,250 0 0

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (includes 

part of Parashant National Monument) 15 68,814 4 1,740 

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area 1 12 0 0

Lassen Volcanic National Park 1 89 0 0

Mesa Verde National Park 1 63 1 8

Mojave National Preserve 1 15 0 0

Montezuma Castle National Monument 4 185 0 0

Mount Rainier National Park 6 173 1 unknown

Mount Rushmore National Memorial 3 5,608 0 0

Natural Bridges National Monument 6 195 2 unknown

Navajo National Monument 4 277 3 8

(Continued From Previous Page)

Name of park unit

Existing operators 

with interim 

operating authority

Air tours authorized 

under interim 

operating authority

New entrant 

operator 

applications

Air tours requested 

by new entrant 

operatorsa
Appendix III

Applications for Operating Authority by 

National Park Unit

Page 49 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Source: FAA.

a

Many of the new entrant operators did not request a specific number of air tours in their applications 

for operating authority, resulting in “unknown” for some of the park units listed in this table.

Note: Since our survey in July 2005, when 112 park units were expected to develop ATMPs, 15 park 

units have been eliminated due to two operators’ withdrawing their applications for authority to conduct 

tours over those park units. The two operators had been the sole applicants at the following 15 park 

units: Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site; Cabrillo National Monument; Channel Islands National 

Park; Charles Pinckney National Historic Site; Chiricahua National Monument; Curecanti National 

North Cascades National Park (includes Lake 

Chelan National Recreation Area) 6 437 1 unknown

Olympic National Park 4 139 2 48

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 1 5 1 8

Pecos National Historical Park 1 320 0

Petrified Forest National Park 3 60 1 unknown

Petroglyph National Monument 1 45 0 0

Pipe Spring National Monument 2 26 3 8

Point Reyes National Seashore 1 2,900 0 0

Rainbow Bridge National Monument 9 10,175 2 104

Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River 1 5 0 0

Saguaro National Park 3 20 0 0

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument 1 17 0 0

San Francisco Maritime National Historical 

Park 1 2,900 0 0

San Juan Island National Historical Park 1 20 0 0

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park 1 10 2 16

Statue of Liberty National Monument (includes 

Ellis Island National Monument) 5 35,8370 0

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument 5 98 1 unknown

Timpanogos Cave National Monument 1 254 1 unknown

Tumacacori National Historical Park 1 5 0 0

Tuzigoot National Monument 3 62 0 0

Voyageurs National Park 1 60 0 0

Walnut Canyon National Monument 3 49 1 unknown

Wright Brothers National Memorial 0 0 1 unknown

Wupatki National Monument 3 60 2 unknown

Yellowstone National Park 5 148 3 8

Yosemite National Park 1 115 2 unknown

Yucca House National Monument 1 63 0 0

Zion National Park 14 742 6 959

(Continued From Previous Page)

Name of park unit

Existing operators 

with interim 

operating authority

Air tours authorized 

under interim 

operating authority

New entrant 

operator 

applications

Air tours requested 

by new entrant 

operatorsa
Appendix III

Applications for Operating Authority by 

National Park Unit

Page 50 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Recreation Area; Gateway National Recreation Area; Lava Beds National Monument; Lower East Side 

Tenement Museum National Historic Site; Manhattan Sites (which includes Castle Clinton National 

Monument, Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site, Federal Hall National Memorial, General Grant 

National Memorial, Hamilton Grange National Memorial, and Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National 

Historic Site); Manzanar National Historic Site; Pinnacles National Monument; Santa Monica 

Mountains National Recreation Area; Tonto National Monument; and Whiskeytown National 

Recreation Area. In addition, FAA withdrew interim operating authority in October 2005 for one 

operator at three park units where there were no other applicants. Those three park units are: John 

Muir National Historic Site, Redwood National and State Parks, and Rosie the Riveter/World War II 

Home Front National Historical Park. This information reflects applications for operating authority that 

were still active as of November 2005.
Page 51 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix IV

Applications for Operating Authority by Air 

Tour Operator ApendxiIV

Name of air tour operator

Number of park units 

applied for as an 

existing operator

Number of park units 

applied for as a new 

entrant operator

Total number 

of park units

Total interim operating 

authority granted (number 

of air tour flights)

Above It All, Inc. 1 0 1 3,878

Adams, Bruce M. 50 0 50 1,888

Adventure Air, LC 0 26 26 0

Aero-Copters of Arizona, Inc. 5 0 5 1,556

Air Grand Canyon Inc. 21 0 21 330

Alika Aviation, Inc. 1 0 1 2,923

American Aviation, Inc. 20 0 20 4,536

Aris, Inc. 1 0 1 3,996

Arrow West Aviation 5 0 5 654

Aviation Ventures, Inc. 1 6 7 6,756

Badger Helicopters Inc. 1 0 1 4,099

Bar Harbor Aviation 1 0 1 2,000

Big Island Air, Inc. 1 0 1 1,643

Black Hills Aerial Adventures, 

Inc. 1 0 1 363

Burrus Flight Seeing Service 1 0 1 1,500

Call Air, Inc. 3 0 3 404

Carisch Helicopters Inc. 1 0 1 20

Classic Helicopter Corporation 1 1 2 32

Columbia Air Services-BHB, 

LLC 1 0 1 2,585

Corporate Air 0 1 1 0

Courtney Aviation, Inc. 3 0 3 114

Dairy Air Inc. 1 0 1 6,500

Eagle Aviation, Inc. 3 0 3 85

English, Daniel B. 1 0 1 89

Grand Canyon Airlines, Inc. 12 0 12 10,765

Great Smoky Mountain 

Helicopter, Inc. 1 0 1 120

Gretzke, Robert C. 4 0 4 2,234

Hawaii Helicopters, Inc. 2 0 2 5,823

Heli USA Airways, Inc. 4 0 4 7,481

Helicopter Consultants of 

Maui, Inc. 2 0 2 20,761

Helicopter Flight Services, Inc. 1 0 1 3,500
Appendix IV

Applications for Operating Authority by Air 

Tour Operator

Page 52 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Homestead Helicopters, Inc. 2 0 2 30

Island Air, Inc. 4 0 4 42

Jamestown Flight Center 1 0 1 147

K & S Helicopters, Inc. 1 1 2 1,684

Kanab, Utah Air Service 0 7 7 0

King Airelines Inc. 7 0 7 4,452

Kruger, James W. 1 0 1 750

Lake Chelan Air Service Inc. 1 0 1 400

Las Vegas Helicopters Inc. 4 0 4 1,412

Laughlin Aviation LLC 1 0 1 3,015

Liberty Helicopters, Inc. 2 0 2 58,864

Manuiwa Airways, Inc. 1 0 1 800

Maui Island Air, Inc. 2 0 2 741

Mauiscape Helicopters 0 1 1 0

Maverick Helicopters, Inc. 14 13 27 9,798

McClelland, John and Terri 3 0 3 8,700

Minuteman Aviation Inc. 1 0 1 717

Mokulele Flight Service, Inc. 1 0 1 60

Montana Aircraft, Inc. 2 0 2 66

Montana By Air LLC 1 0 1 12

Natures Designs, Inc. 2 0 2 100

New York Helicopter Charter, 

Inc. 1 0 1 2,655

North East Air and Sea 

Services LLC 1 0 1 125

Osprey Aero 1 0 1 60

Papillon Airways Inc. 8 0 8 11,435

Paragon Air, Inc. 3 0 3 1,968

Pavco, Inc. 2 0 2 87

Platt, Phil 1 0 1 170

Pro Aire Enterprises 0 3 3 0

Rainbow Pacific Helicopters, 

Ltd. 3 0 3 135

Rambo Helicopter Charter, Inc. 1 0 1 1,800

Red Eagle Aviation, Inc. 1 0 1 159

Reeder Flying Service 0 3 3 0

Rite Bros Aviation Inc. 3 0 3 80

(Continued From Previous Page)

Name of air tour operator

Number of park units 

applied for as an 

existing operator

Number of park units 

applied for as a new 

entrant operator

Total number 

of park units

Total interim operating 

authority granted (number 

of air tour flights)
Appendix IV

Applications for Operating Authority by Air 

Tour Operator

Page 53 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Source: FAA.

Note: This information reflects applications for operating authority that were still active as of November 

2005.

Rogers Helicopters Inc. 1 0 1 9,000

Rushmore Helicopters, Inc. 1 0 1 5,200

Safari Aviation, Inc. 1 0 1 3,920

Scenic Airlines, Inc. 5 5 10 20,804

Schuman Aviation Company, 

Co. Ltd. 3 0 3 75

Selway Aviation LLC 1 0 1 20

Skycraft Air Maintenance 0 1 1 0

Slickrock Air Guides, Inc. 3 0 3 969

Solid Edge Aviation 0 5 5 0

Sphere One 0 4 4 0

Spirit Mountain Aviation LLC 2 0 2 90

Steve Winters d/b/a M & S 

Aero 3 0 3 361

Sundance Helicopters Inc. 4 0 4 895

Sunshine Helicopters, Inc. 3 0 3 8,205

Swanstrom, Paul N. 5 0 5 250

Van Air, Inc. 1 0 1 60

Ventura Air Services, Inc. 1 0 1 125

Vista Helicopter Services 0 4 4 0

Westwind Aviation, Inc. 3 0 3 8,540

Wilson Aviation, LLC 1 0 1 60

Windrock Aviation, LLC 14 7 21 47

Wings of Wenatchee, Inc. 3 0 3 40

(Continued From Previous Page)

Name of air tour operator

Number of park units 

applied for as an 

existing operator

Number of park units 

applied for as a new 

entrant operator

Total number 

of park units

Total interim operating 

authority granted (number 

of air tour flights)
Page 54 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix V

Air Tours Authorized under Interim Operating 

Authority by National Park Unit ApendxiV

Name of park unit

Total number of air tours 

authorized under interim 

operating authority per year

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (includes part of 

Parashant National Monument) 68,814a

Statue of Liberty National Monument (includes Ellis 

Island National Monument) 35,837

Governors Island National Monument 29,432

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 28,441

Haleakala National Park 26,325

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 14,074

Rainbow Bridge National Monument 10,175

Cape Hatteras National Seashore 8,170

Mount Rushmore National Memorial 5,608

Acadia National Park 4,585

Badlands National Park 4,117

Bryce Canyon National Park 3,488

Golden Gate National Recreation Area (includes Alcatraz 

Island, Muir Woods National Monument, Presidio of San 

Francisco, and Fort Point National Historic Site) 2,900

Point Reyes National Seashore 2,900

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park 2,900

Kalaupapa National Historical Park 2,250

Great Smoky Mountains National Park 1,920

Glacier National Park 1,793

Big Cypress National Preserve 1,260 

Canyonlands National Park 1,039

Zion National Park 742

Arches National Park 675

Everglades National Park 674

North Cascades National Park (includes Lake Chelan 

National Recreation Area) 437

Capitol Reef National Park 334

Navajo National Monument 277

Timpanogos Cave National Monument 254

Biscayne National Park 200

Natural Bridges National Monument 195

Montezuma Castle National Monument 185
Appendix V

Air Tours Authorized under Interim 

Operating Authority by National Park Unit

Page 55 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Canyon de Chelly National Monument 177

Mount Rainier National Park 173

Yellowstone National Park 148

Chaco Culture National Historical Park 147

Colonial National Historical Park 147

Olympic National Park 139

Bandelier National Monument 126

Yosemite National Park 115

Dry Tortugas National Park 100

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument 98

Hovenweep National Monument 92

Lassen Volcanic National Park 89

Aztec Ruins National Monument 83

Cedar Breaks National Monument 79

Grand Teton National Park 74

Death Valley National Park 67

Mesa Verde National Park 63

Yucca House National Monument 63

Tuzigoot National Monument 62

Petrified Forest National Park 60

Voyageurs National Park 60

Wupatki National Monument 60

Colorado National Monument 57

Walnut Canyon National Monument 49

Petroglyph National Monument 45

El Malpais National Monument 43

El Morro National Monument 43

Fort Union National Monument 32

Pecos National Historical Park 32

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site 27

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 26

Pipe Spring National Monument 26

Devils Tower National Monument 22

Saguaro National Park 20

San Juan Island National Historical Park 20

Carlsbad Caverns National Park 18

(Continued From Previous Page)

Name of park unit

Total number of air tours 

authorized under interim 

operating authority per year
Appendix V

Air Tours Authorized under Interim 

Operating Authority by National Park Unit

Page 56 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Source: FAA.

a

At the time of our review, FAA officials believed that many of the tours authorized at Lake Mead 

National Recreation Area were actually transportation-only flights en route to the Grand Canyon 

National Park. Such flights are exempt from the National Parks Air Tour Management Act, but 

operators nonetheless applied for operating authority because of their uncertainty.

Note: This information reflects applications for operating authority that were still active as of November 

2005.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park 18

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument 17

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve 16

Mojave National Preserve 15

Capulin Volcano National Monument 13

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area 12

Golden Spike National Historic Site 11

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park 10

Dinosaur National Monument 9

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park 7

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument 6

Big Bend National Park 5

Coronado National Memorial 5

Fort Bowie National Historic Site 5

Fort Davis National Historic Site 5

Hohokam Pima National Monument 5

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument 5

Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River 5

Tumacacori National Historical Park 5

City of Rocks National Reserve 0

Crater Lake National Park 0

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve 0

Devils Postpile National Monument 0

Fort Laramie National Historic Site 0

Great Basin National Park 0

Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument 0

Joshua Tree National Park 0

Wright Brothers National Memorial 0

(Continued From Previous Page)

Name of park unit

Total number of air tours 

authorized under interim 

operating authority per year
Page 57 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior ApendxiVI

Note: GAO comments 

supplementing those in 

the report text appear 

at the end of this 

appendix.
Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior

Page 58 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

See comment 1.

See comment 2.
Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior

Page 59 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

See comment 3.

See comment 4.

See comment 5.
Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior

Page 60 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

See comment 6.
Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior

Page 61 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Now on p. 6.

Now on p. 40.
Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior

Page 62 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

The following are GAO’s comments on the Department of the Interior’s 

(Interior) letter dated January 5, 2006.

GAO Comments 1. While it is true that FAA and the Park Service could not agree on what 

constitutes a significant impact, we did not include specifics of the 

disagreement because, according to agency officials and the 

implementation plan, the problem has been resolved. Furthermore, the 

agencies’ slow implementation of the act has been discussed in past 

congressional hearings and we concluded that we could not provide 

any new information.

2. We agree that Congress, in amending the act, should preserve the Park 

Service’s authority to develop an ATMP for any park unit it deems 

necessary. Our intent for suggesting that Congress consider amending 

the act was to provide the agencies with the flexibility not to develop 

ATMPs for park units where the Park Service deems them to be 

unnecessary. That flexibility currently does not exist in the act. As we 

discuss in the report, an ATMP may be unnecessary for a specific park 

unit for a variety of reasons, including (1) a low level of air tour activity, 

(2) an existing voluntary agreement governing air tour activities, or (3) 

more significant effects by other types of overflights at the park unit. 

We agree that whether or not an ATMP is necessary for a specific park 

unit could depend on a number of factors and not just solely on the 

level of air tour activity. Furthermore, we agree that in amending the 

act Congress should not arbitrarily exclude park units from the ATMP 

process solely on the basis of their level of air tour activity. We believe 

that such an exclusion would be an oversimplification of a complex 

issue, and we did not imply such a solution in this report.

3. We disagree that programmatic approaches taken by the agencies could 

provide the same flexibility as a legislative amendment. As Interior 

acknowledges in its comments, the act does not give the agencies the 

authority to exclude any park unit from the ATMP process. In the 

matter for congressional consideration, we offer the point that 

Congress may wish to give the agencies such authority.

4. We disagree with Interior’s characterization of our survey results as 

“anecdotal.” We surveyed all 112 park units that were expected to 

develop ATMPs as of July 2005, and we received a 100 percent response 

rate. Per our instructions, the survey was to be completed by Park 

Service officials with the most knowledge of the subject area. We 
Appendix VI

Comments from the Department of the 

Interior

Page 63 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

believe that our methodology was sound and that we gathered the most 

authoritative data currently available from Park Service officials with 

first-hand knowledge of the different causes of noise at their respective 

park units. However, since only a small number of park units have 

completed sound monitoring studies as part of the development of an 

ATMP, we acknowledge that the responses provided were generally 

based on the survey respondents’ first-hand knowledge and years of 

experience rather than scientific data. Nevertheless, the survey results 

clearly indicate that there are a number of park units currently 

scheduled to develop ATMPs that may not need them. We agree with 

Interior’s comments that the survey results should not be “used to 

imply that low levels of air tour activity alone equates to little or no 

adverse effects.”

5. We agree with this comment and we have revised the discussion of this 

issue in the final report accordingly.

6. We agree, and note in the report, that the Park Service needs additional 

information in order to grant increases in air tour allocations under 

interim operating authority. FAA confirmed that it does have authority 

to collect this data from air tour operators, as it is the agency with 

jurisdiction over operators and could require operators to provide the 

necessary information if an operator wants to increase its air tours 

under interim operating authority. The agencies would have to evaluate 

the information and determine whether an environmental analysis is 

necessary.
Page 64 GAO-06-263 National Parks Air Tour Management Act

Appendix VII

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments ApendxiVI

GAO Contact Robin M. Nazzaro, (202) 512-3841, nazzaror@gao.gov

Staff Acknowledgment In addition to the individual named above, Jeffery D. Malcolm, Assistant 

Director, Josey Ballenger, Alisha Chugh, Richard Johnson, Cathy Hurley, 

Wyatt R. Hundrup, Judy Pagano, Carol Herrnstadt Shulman, and Monica 

Wolford made key contributions to this report. Also contributing to the 

report were Roy Judy and Steve Martin.

(360540)
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