8862 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 38 / Wednesday, February 26, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Parts 91, 93, 121, and 135

[Docket No. 28537; Amendment Nos. 91–

253, 93–73, 121–262, 135–66]

RIN 2120–AF93

Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of

Grand Canyon National Park

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Final rule; request for

comments.

SUMMARY: On December 31, 1996, the

FAA published a final rule that codifies

the provisions of Special Federal

Aviation Regulation (SFAR) No. 50–2,

Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of

Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP);

modifies the dimensions of the GCNP

Special Flight Rules Area; establishes

new and modifies existing flight-free

zones; establishes new and modifies

existing flight corridors; establishes

reporting requirements for commercial

sightseeing companies operating in the

Special Flight Rules Area; prohibits

commercial sightseeing operations

during certain time periods; and limits

the number of aircraft that can be used

for commercial sightseeing operations in

the GCNP Special Flight Rules Area.

This action delays the effective date for

14 CFR Sections 93.301, 93.305, and

93.307 of the final rule and reinstates

portions of and amends the expiration

date of SFAR No. 50–2. This action does

not affect or delay the implementation

of the curfew, aircraft restrictions,

reporting requirements or the other

portions of the rule.

DATES: Effective date: The effective date

of May 1, 1997, for 14 CFR Sections

93.301, 93.305, and 93.307, is delayed

until 0901 UTC January 31, 1998. SFAR

No. 560–2 is reinstated and amended

effective 0901 UTC May 1, 1997. SFAR

No. 50–2, Sections 2, 3, 6, 6, 7 and 8 are

removed effective 0901 UTC May 1,

1997.

Comments must be received on or

before March 24, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

mailed, in triplicate to: Federal Aviation

Administration, Office of the Chief

Counsel, Attention: Rules Docket (AGC–

200), Docket No. 28537, 800

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20591. Comments may

be sent electronically to the Rules

Docket by using the following Internet

address nprmcmts@mail.faa.dot.gov.

Comments must be marked Docket No.

28537. Comments may be examined in

the Rules Docket in Room 915G on

weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00

p.m., except on Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Neil Saunders, Airspace and Rules

Division, ATA–400, Office of Air Traffic

Airspace Management, Federal Aviation

Administration, 800 Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20591;

Telephone: (202) 267–8783.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments on the Rule

Although this action is a final rule,

and was not preceded by notice and

public procedure, comments are invited

on the rule. This rule will become

effective on the date specified in the

DATES section. Comments that provide

the factual basis supporting the views

and suggestions presented are

particularly helpful in evaluating the

effects of the rule, and in determining

whether additional rulemaking is

required.

History

On December 31, 1996, the FAA

published three concurrent actions (a

final rule, a Notice of Proposed

Rulemaking [NPRM], and a Notice of

Availability of Proposed Commercial

Air Tour Routes) in the Federal Register

(62 FR 69301) as part of an overall

strategy to reduce further the impact of

aircraft noise on the park environment

and to assist the National Park Service

(NPS) in achieving its statutory mandate

imposed by Public Law 100–91. The

final rule amends part 93 of the Federal

Aviation Regulations and adds a new

subpart to codify the provisions of

SFAR No. 50–2, modifies the

dimensions of the GCNP Special Flight

Rules Area; establishes new and

modifies existing flight-free zones;

reestablishes new and modifies existing

flight corridors; and establishes

reporting requirements for commercial

sightseeing companies operating in the

Special Flight Rules Area. In addition,

to provide further protection for park

resources, the final rule prohibits

commercial sightseeing operations in

the Zuni and Dragon corridors during

certain time periods, and places a

temporary limit on the number of

aircraft that can be used for commercial

sightseeing operations in the GCNP

Special Flight Rules Area. These

provisions become effective on May 1,

1997.

An NPRM, Notice No. 96–15,

proposing to establish noise limitations

for certain aircraft operating in the

vicinity of GCNP was also published

with a comment period that closes on

March 31, 1997.

Finally, a Notice of Availability of

proposed Commercial Air Tour Routes

for the GCNP was published with a 30-

day comment period that closed on

January 31, 1997. This Notice requested

comment on the proposed new or

modified existing air tour routes, which

complement the final rule affecting the

Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of

GCNP.

Petitions

By petition dated January 15, 1997,

the Aircraft Owners and Pilots

Association requested that the FAA

reconsider the rule because of its

perceived negative impact on the

general aviation community and the fact

that general aviation traffic does not

contribute to the issues addressed by the

final rule.

On January 30, 1997, the Clark County

Department of Aviation, et al., filed a

petition seeking reconsideration and/or

a stay of effectiveness of the

implementation of the Toroweap/

Shinumo Flight-Free Zone that will bar

the use of the current ‘‘Blue 1’’

commercial air tour route until the FAA

has taken adequate steps to assure the

availability of an adequate alternative

for Las Vegas based air tour operators.

On January 31, 1997, the Grand

Canyon Air Tour Coalition (Coalition)

requested a stay of the effective date

arguing that the necessary pilot training

and certification could not be

reasonably and safely completed prior

to the May 1, 1997, effective date. The

petition also alleged that discontinuing

and limiting existing tour routes as of

May 1, 1997, would disrupt the travel

plans of a substantial portion of GCNP

visitors, and air tour operators would be

forced to dishonor contractual

obligations based on material printed

prior to August 1996. (This

administrative action is separate from

but interrelated to a Petition for Review

filed by the Coalition in the Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia

Circuit, Grand Canyon Air Tour

Coalition v. FAA, (Case No. 97–1003)).

On February 18, 1997, the Grand

Canyon Trust, et. al., (Trust) filed a

request with the FAA opposing the

Coalition’s request for stay of the final

rule and urged the FAA to deny the

Coalition’s request. The Trust argued

that the Coalition has not presented

valid grounds to support its stay

request.

Even though the specific Petitions

filed with the FAA focus on different

aspects of the operating environment

within the Park, the underlying

concepts of the three Petitions are

similar in nature. All three

administrative Petitions are concerned
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 38 / Wednesday, February 26, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 8863

with the air tour route structure or its

implementation.

In support of the requests for a stay of

the effective date, the Petitions have

alleged several economic and safety

concerns. The economic concerns are

inextricably tied with the

implementation of the new routes in the

Park. As will be discussed below, if the

implementation of the new routes is

delayed, the economic concerns are, at

a minimum, also delayed. In essence,

the safety concerns stem from the

Petitioners’ position that there is not

enough time to train and certify all

operators and pilots for operations on

the new Grand Canyon routes that are

scheduled to be in place on May 1,

1997, and that this would create an

inherently unsafe situation in the Grand

Canyon. The FAA strongly disagrees

with this assertion that implementing

the new routes effective May 1, 1997,

would be unsafe. Even though the FAA

is committed to achieving the

substantial restoration of natural quiet

in the Park as soon as possible, safety is,

and always will be, paramount. To that

end, the FAA has been preparing to take

dramatic steps to alleviate any potential

problems that could adversely affect the

safety in the Park on May 1, 1997, by

arranging for additional inspectors to be

available for the operators to complete

the training on the new routes prior to

the May 1, 1997, effective date. The

FAA would never permit an unsafe

situation to take place at the Grand

Canyon.

While the FAA has been diligently

working toward a May 1, 1997,

implementation date for the entire rule,

the Agency has also been reviewing

comments concerning proposed routes

and working toward the establishment

of these routes. During the process of

establishing the new routes in response

to the final rule, the FAA has met with

aviation users, Park users, and Native

Americans. Several new and innovative

ideas were offered by those groups.

Many of these creative ideas suggest

alternatives to both the existing

environment at the Park and the

proposed environment that could

significantly improve the operating

situation in both the environmental and

operational arenas. These new

suggestions have not yet been

adequately explored, but are deserving

of further investigation and analysis.

Additional time would afford the FAA

and the Department of the Interior (DOI)

an opportunity to review these new

ideas. In addition, the FAA is

committed to a continued working

relationship with the affected Native

American tribal units, and the FAA

intends to complete consultation with

the affected Native American tribes

concerning these new route suggestions

pursuant to Section 106 of the National

Historic Preservation Act. Although the

FAA is fully prepared to implement the

new route structure on May 1, 1997, as

originally proposed, it would be

extremely difficult to accommodate the

new proposals now being discussed by

that date.

The FAA has consulted with the DOI

concerning the new suggestions

received by the FAA and the need for

further consultation. The DOI

reexamined the situation at the Park and

concluded that the implementation of

the curfew as required by the final rule

on May 1, 1997, will, on its own, be a

significant step to achieving the

substantial restoration of natural quiet

in the Park. The subsequent

implementation of the new air tour

route structure, together with the

proposal of quiet technology, will form

the basis for the next step towards the

substantial restoration of natural quiet.

The DOI and the FAA have determined

that additional time would be beneficial

to permit the further exploration of

these new ideas submitted by the

affected and interested parties, and that

a delay in the effective date of the

implementation of the new routes in the

Park is warranted. Therefore, to permit

continued discussions on, and possible

changes to, the proposed new routes

and to permit further consultation with

the Native American tribes, the FAA has

determined to delay the effective date of

the expansion of the flight-free zones

and minimum altitudes as stated in 14

CFR Sections 93.301, 93.305 and 93.307

to January 31, 1998. The effective date

of May 1, 1997, for all the other aspects

of the rule, i.e., the curfew, aircraft

limitations, and reporting requirements,

will remain unchanged.

Since the FAA is delaying certain

portions of the final rule, as stated

above, SFAR 50–2 must be reinstated,

and certain portions of the SFAR be

extended. The continuation of the SFAR

is vital to maintain the existing

environmental and safety benefits.

Specifically, the FAA finds it necessary

to amend Section 9 of the reinstated

SFAR 50–2 to extend the provisions of

Sections 1, 4, and 5, (i.e., the Special

Flight Rules Area, the flight-free zones

and the minimum flight altitudes) until

January 31, 1998. The termination of

SFAR 50–2 Sections 1, 4, and 5 will

coincide with the delayed effective date

of 14 CFR Sections 93.301, 93.305, and

93.307.

On May 1, 1997, the provisions of the

final rule that are unaffected by the

pending route structure will go into

effect. These provisions consist of the

curfew, aircraft limitations, and

reporting requirements, and are

continued in 14 CFR Sections 93.303,

93.309, 93.311, 93.313, 93.315, 93.316,

and 93.317. To avoid redundancy and

confusion the FAA also finds it

necessary to remove certain sections of

SFAR 50–2 effective May 1, 1997.

Sections 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 will be

removed on May 1, 1997 to coincide

with the implementation of the above

referenced sections of the final rule

contained in part 93.

Further Consultation and Review

As mentioned above, during the

comment period on the new routes, the

FAA received many insightful and

cogent comments on the proposed route

structure. Consultation with the Native

American representatives also produced

several useful and valid alternate

operational schemes. Many of these

ideas received from the comments and

through the consultations are innovative

and may prove to be quite beneficial for

both the safety and the environmental

arenas. A good example of this concerns

the direction of air tour traffic in the

eastern side of the Park, e.g. in the

Dragon Corridor. The FAA’s preliminary

view that traffic should operate in a

clockwise direction is being revisited,

based on comments from the air tour

operators as well as from NPS. With

new considerations given by the

operators, the existing direction of

traffic operations, ie., counterclockwise,

may be the more safe and

environmentally sound decision.

The FAA has determined that the

responses to the proposed routes should

be further analyzed prior to

implementation of airspace changes.

Therefore, in light of the comments and

additional information received, the

FAA will reexamine the proposed route

structure in relation to the operating

environment in the Park. The FAA

expects to revisit the proposed route

structure and incorporate several of the

above mentioned ideas. Involvement of

the interested and affected parties will

be crucial in this process.

Notice and Comment

As is explained below, this final rule

is being issued without prior notice and

comment because of the time

constraints. The FAA spent the month

of January and most of February

receiving and reviewing comments on

the proposed routes and consulting with

the various affected parties. Had the

FAA not received the valuable

information on the route structure that

it did, the FAA would have been able

to transmit the data on the proposed

routes to the proper charting authorities
8864 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 38 / Wednesday, February 26, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

(the National Ocean Service [NOS]), and

an aeronautical chart would have been

available by at least April 1, 1997, that

would have been used by the operators

for training and navigational purposes.

To have the appropriate chart produced

by April 1, the FAA would have had to

forward the charting data to NOS by

February 21, 1997. However, once the

FAA started to receive the relevant

information from the commenters, the

Agency had to make a determination as

to whether to proceed with the

proposed routes so as to have the routes

and the complete Grand Canyon final

rule effective and implemented on May

1, or whether to take additional time to

analyze the comments and possibly

develop a better and more

comprehensive route structure that

would not go into effect until after the

busy summer tourist season.

Further, officials of the Park and NPS

had suggested alterations and

refinements in the route structure that

have the potential to produce noise

reduction benefits. They have requested

the opportunity to explore these new

options with the FAA. Both the FAA

and the DOI believe that all these

suggested changes could produce a

significantly better rule for both the Park

users and the aviation operators.

Additional time is needed, however, to

review, analyze, and implement these

route changes, which, again, would

preclude a May 1, 1997, effective date.

To permit what the FAA and the DOI

believe will culminate in a better overall

route structure, the FAA has decided

not to send the originally proposed

routes to NOS for charting, but to

analyze the new ideas with the

expectation of creating better routes.

Due to the specific and strict

requirements of NOS for the charting

preparation time, any further alteration

to the route structure, such as the ones

suggested by DOI and interested parties,

make it impossible to meet the charting

date necessary for a May 1 effective

date. A delay in the charting data to

NOS would mean that NOS would not

have been able to produce the charts by

April 1 and, consequently, operators

would not have been able to train their

pilots by May 1. Essentially, therefore,

any delay in sending the data to NOS

results in an equivalent delay of the

effective date. With the goal to produce

the best routes possible, the FAA

determined that it would be contrary to

the public interest to implement the

originally proposed routes when better

alternatives might be available as a

result of the comments received and the

consultations with DOI and others.

Moreover, past experience has

demonstrated that the training of pilots

on new routes during a peak tourist

season could be unsafe. At the Park, the

peak season extends approximately

from May through October. To eliminate

the potential for unsafe operations

within the Park, the FAA further

determined that the training should take

place in the Park when the volume of air

traffic traditionally decreases, i.e., after

the summer tourist season. For that

reason, the FAA is delaying the effective

date of the new airspace and route

structure until January 31, 1998, to give

the operators sufficient time to train

their pilots adequately and safely after

the close of the busy summer season.

Therefore, the FAA finds that there is

sufficient justification under 5 U.S.C.

553(b) to issue this rule without notice

and an opportunity for comment.

However, while there is not sufficient

time to allow prior notice and

comments concerning the FAA decision

to delay the May 1 effective date, we

invite comments concerning any other

aspect of this notice, including the new

implementation date of January 31,

1998.

Economic Evaluation

In promulgating the final rule for

Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of

the GCNP, the FAA prepared a costbenefit analysis of the rule. The delay in

the implementation of 14 CFR Sections

93.301 and 93.307 will not affect that

assessment. The delay in the

implementation of Section 93.305 will

be cost-relieving.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

As required by the Regulatory

Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended,

FAA completed a final regulatory

flexibility analysis of the final rule. The

delay in the implementation of 14 CFR

Sections 93.301, 93.305, and 93.307 will

not have an effect on that analysis.

Federalism Implications

The amendment set forth herein will

not have substantial direct effects on the

States, or the relationship between the

national Government and the State, or

on the distribution of power and

responsibilities among the various

levels of government. Therefore, in

accordance with Executive Order 12612,

it is determined that this amendment

does not have sufficient federalism

implications to warrant the preparation

of a Federalism Assessment.

List of Subjects

14 CFR Part 91

Aircraft, Airmen, Air traffic control,

Aviation safety, Noise control,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

14 CFR Part 93

Air traffic control, Airports,

Navigation (Air), Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

14 CFR Part 121

Aircraft, Airmen, Aviation safety,

Charter flights, Safety, Transportation.

14 CFR Part 135

Air taxis, Aircraft, Airmen, Aviation

safety.

Adoption of Amendments

Accordingly, the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) amends 14 CFR

parts 91, 93, 121, and 135 as follows:

PARTS 91, 121 AND 135 [AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 91

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 49 USC 106(g), 40103, 40113,

40120, 44101, 44111, 44701, 44709, 44711,

44712, 44715, 44716, 44717, 44722, 46306,

46315, 46316, 46502, 46504, 46506–46507,

47122, 47508, 47528–47531.

2. The authority citation for part 121

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 49 USC 106(g), 40113, 40119,

44101, 44701–44702, 44705, 44709–44711,

44713, 44716–44717, 44722, 44901, 44903–

44904, 44912, 46105.

3. The authority citation for part 135

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 49 USC 106(g), 40113, 44701–

44702, 44705, 44709, 44711–44713, 44715–

44717, 44722.

SFAR No. 50–2 [Reinstated]

4. In parts 91, 121, and 135, Special

Federal Aviation Regulation No. 50–2 is

reinstated.

5. In parts 91, 121, and 135, Special

Federal Aviation Regulation No. 50–2,

Section 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 are removed.

6. In parts 91, 121, and 135, Special

Federal Aviation Regulation No. 50–2,

Section 9 is revised to read as follows:

SFAR 50–2—Special Flight Rules in the

Vicinity of the Grand Canyon National

Park, AZ

* * * * *

Section 9. Termination date. Sections 1.

Applicability, Section 4, Flight-free zones,

and Section 5. Minimum flight altitudes,

expire on 0901 UTC, January 31, 1998.

PART 93—SPECIAL AIR TRAFFIC

RULES AND AIRPORT TRAFFIC

PATTERNS

7. The authority citation for part 93

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 49 USC 106(g), 40103, 40106,

40109, 40113, 44502, 44514, 44701, 44719,

46301.

The effective date of May 1, 1997, for

new §§ 93.301, 93.305, and 93.307 to be
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 38 / Wednesday, February 26, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 8865

added to 14 CFR Chapter I is delayed

until 0901 UTC, January 31, 1998.

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 21,

1997.

Barry L. Valentine,

Acting Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–4824 Filed 2–21–97; 3:49 pm]

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