Brief: Tour operators rip new noise restrictions

"No powered aircraft can fly anywhere close to the Grand Canyon and meet this unreasonable noise requirement," U.S. Air Tour Association President Steve Bassett said after the proposal appeared in the Federal Register.

He said scientists say the noise threshold would be the equivalent of the sound produced when tree limbs brush against each other in a 25 mph wind.

"If this becomes the new benchmark for determining if substantial restoration of natural quiet has been achieved, it will effectively ground every air tour aircraft in service at the Grand Canyon today," Bassett said.

Bob McCune, president of the Grand Canyon Air Tour Council, concurred with Bassett's assessment, adding that the only way a plane would be able to fly over the canyon would be "in glide mode." He said the Park Service plan was expected because the agency recently reviewed noise studies.

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