Jay Honeck writes:

And I don't understand what the problem is. I've been part-way down
the canyon, and I saw and heard aircraft overhead. What's the big
deal?

As a long time pilot that has always loved airplanes and airplane noise,
and ALWAYS looks up when I hear an airplane overhead (and who works at
Scaled and is around planes all day, every day), the big deal is that
it's really nice to have peace and quiet sometimes, especially in a
"natural" setting. And that's only from a "people-centric" position.

Two weeks ago, I flew my COZY from Tehachapi out to Grand Canyon to do
some hiking. My wife and I (and some friends who flew out in a
Dutchess) hiked down the South Kaibab Trail to the Cedar Ridge stop -
about 1.5 miles into the canyon from the south rim. However much I like
airplanes (and I doubt that there's anyone out there that likes them
more than I do), it was NICE when there was no noise from ANYTHING -
cars, planes, busses, helicopters, etc. We're inundated with noise 24/7
everywhere we go - it's very pleasant to have NONE, especially when
communing with nature.

You might want to take a look at:

http://www.nps.gov/grca/overflights/

to see what's up.

Much of the noise from aircraft in the canyon is actually from
commercial airliners at 30K ft - the tour operators are another
substantial part, but not the largest part. Just moving commercial air
routes 50 miles to either side would eliminate a large portion of the
noise pollution without affecting sightseeing flights, and might be a
perfectly reasonable compromise.

I suggest that you visit Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado - it's
off the commercial air routes by 100 miles, and there's no local airport
within about 50 miles or so. If you hike 2 miles off the access road,
it's amazingly quiet - I've never heard such quiet except in an anechoic
chamber (which is hardly as interesting a place). Being able to hear
the breeze move plants 100 yards away, or hear crickets chirping
hundreds of yards away, or just listen to the blood flow through your
inner ears is a far more pleasant experience than listening to aircraft
fly overhead, however much I love aircraft.

I've also flown over the canyon ....
There is simply nothing else to compare it to.

I agree - it's the most breathtaking thing ever, but if I overfly the
canyon in my 4 seat COZY, I've just ruined the auditory experience of
the canyon for 1000's of hikers and sightseers on the rim. Just because
it's great for me doesn't give me the right to ruin it for many others.

The fact that a special interest group is trying to restrict our
freedoms -- again -- is what I find disgusting.

And the special interest groups that represent aviation are different?
What's disgusting about trying to maintain the natural ambiance of GCNP,
to the extent it's possible? Would you like to build trams down the
river, or a road, maybe, so that everyone can drive down into the
canyon? How about an amusement park at the bottom - I'm sure a lot of
folks would like that, too?

My point stands. Ten times more people fly over the Canyon than will
ever have the chance to hike into it. Are these people somehow less
important? Are they second-class citizens?

First of all, you're just plain wrong. There were more people hiking
down into the canyon on the trail two Sundays ago than could ever have
fit on all the tour flights, and that doesn't count all the folks on all
the other trails, not to mention the 100 times as many people that
WEREN'T hiking down into the canyon, but were up on the rim, doing a rim
walk or rim tour. So if anything, the majority of folks at the canyon
are NOT in aircraft.

But even if your claim were true, there are things that some folks just
don't get to do - we have the technology to get disabled folks to the
top of Mt. Whitney - should we build elevators to the top? Some things
you just leave alone so that you don't ruin it by trying to make it
accessible to everyone.

.... and to even talk about banning it is wrong.

There's the good old American "free speech" attitude - don't allow talk
about things you don't agree with. No reason to hear opposing
positions - having an open mind might actually let in information that
would disabuse you of your biases.

--
Marc J. Zeitlin
http://www.cozybuilders.org/
Copyright (c) 2006