Bell 407 helicopter pilot Lee Hamilton and flight officer Bill Bevan, both Alabama State Troopers, were honored on April 30 at Fort Payne’s Isbell Field for their rescue of a family stranded and trapped in the raging waters of the Alabama Little River in January.
Grand Canyon
March 28, 2011 - 10:15am
The National Park Service (NPS) is proposing new rules to cap the number of air-tour flights over the Grand Canyon, further restrict flight corridors and altitudes adjacent to it, and mandate the use of “quiet-technology” helicopters flying tours there.
February 26, 2011 - 7:35am
A new National Park Service proposal to cap the number and further restrict the routes of flights near the Grand Canyon is being criticized as overly restrictive by individual operators and the United States Air Tour Association. The new rules would prohibit direct overflights and mandate operators convert to "quiet technology" aircraft within the next decade.
February 1, 2010 - 5:46am
You can choose between two distinct approaches to seeing the spectacular Grand Canyon on the Colorado River: wait until February, send in $25 for a public lottery assigning launch dates for the following year and then gamely tackle the river yourself–or you can sign on with one of more than a dozen commercial rafting outfitters licensed by the National Park Service to show you the river-running experience of your life.
September 30, 2009 - 6:21am
After debating Grand Canyon air-tour noise for eight years, the Grand Canyon Working Group (GCWG) has left the issue to the National Park Service (NPS), which often supports environmentalist positions. At a recent meeting the GCWG disagreed on NPS alternatives, including a seasonal shift in air-tour corridors by alternatively closing the Zuni and Dragon corridors, which are now open concurrently.
September 10, 2009 - 11:00am
After debating Grand Canyon air-tour noise for eight years, the Grand Canyon Working Group (GCWG) has left the issue to the National Park Service (NPS), which often supports environmentalist positions. At a recent meeting the GCWG disagreed on NPS alternatives, including a seasonal shift in air-tour corridors by alternatively closing the Zuni and Dragon corridors, which are now open concurrently.
February 20, 2009 - 7:39am
It was an unusual report that swiftly sent the Grand Canyon National Park Helitack–this year’s winner of the Igor I. Sikorsky Humanitarian Service Award–into action last August 17. “In the early morning we got a report that there were five boats floating down river with no passengers on board,” said Jay Lusher, helicopter program manager for Grand Canyon National Park.
February 19, 2009 - 11:08am
It was an unusual report that swiftly sent the Grand Canyon National Park Helitack–this year’s winner of the Igor I. Sikorsky Humanitarian Service Award–into action last August 17. “In the early morning we got a report that there were five boats floating down river with no passengers on board,” said Jay Lusher, helicopter program manager for Grand Canyon National Park.
May 9, 2008 - 6:52am
The fatal crash of an Aerospatiale AS 350 at the Grand Canyon on August 10 was the fourth fatal accident of a Papillon Helicopters tour flight since September 1985 and the second for the operator in the Grand Canyon since April 1999 (in which the sole pilot was the only one killed).
May 7, 2008 - 9:56am
In light of the comity that almost turned a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on national parks overflights into a “lovefest” early last month, it is difficult to fathom why it has taken more than 15 years to reach agreement on rules for air tours over such noise-sensitive recreational areas.
