FAA air-tour rules open for comment
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Is the drone of air tours intruding on your national park experience?
A public hearing on the plan for Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m. today at the Waimea Civic Center conference room. For Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, and Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, 6 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow at King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel. A second hearing for Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, Building 301, Room 100. For Kalaupapa National Historical Park, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Kaunakakai Elementary School and noon to 2:30 p.m. Monday at McVeigh Social Hall in Kalaupapa. For Haleakala National Park, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hana Community Center and 6 to 9:30 p.m. March 31 at the Mayor Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Pukalani.
If so, you can tell it to the Federal Aviation Administration starting today. The agency is holding a series of public hearings as it develops plans aimed at preventing adverse effects from air tours on Hawai'i's national parks.
Public hearing schedule for Big Island, Maui, Moloka'i
Six of Hawai'i's National Park Service properties are among the first in the nation scheduled to get air-tour management plans mandated by the National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000.
The act, created in part by U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, seeks to prevent negative effects from air tours on "natural and cultural resources, visitor experiences and tribal lands." The plans, according to the law, may prohibit air operations or establish specific routes, maximum or minimum altitudes or times for operations within a half-mile of park boundaries.
The first public meeting will be from 4:30 to 7 p.m. today at the Waimea Civic Center on the Big Island, for comments regarding air tours affecting Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site.
Meetings will be every day through next week, including Thursday and Friday for Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and Tuesday and March 31 for Haleakala National Park.
Under the law, air-tour operators flying less than 5,000 feet above national parks were required to obtain interim operating authority from the FAA while the plans are being created.
Twelve operators applied for interim authority at Hawai'i Volcanoes, generating 24,583 flight operations annually over or within a half-mile of the Big Island park. Ten operators applied for interim authority at Haleakala, conducting 26,325 flight operations over or within a half-mile of the Maui park.
Three operators each applied for interim authority over Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park and Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park on the Big Island and Kalaupapa National Historical Park on Moloka'i, generating from 100 to 250 flight operations each.
FAA officials have said the Hawai'i parks were given priority because of the high level of air-tour activity and because of the existing working relationship between air-tour operators and the National Park Service.
At Haleakala, for example, air-tour operators have been flying under an interim agreement developed with the park 10 years ago. Under the agreement, helicopters are kept outside park boundaries, except in emergencies and over a corridor across Waimoku Falls in the Kipahulu area.
Creating the air-tour plan could take at least a couple of years, requiring several public hearings for environmental documents and FAA rule making. The Hawai'i Volcanoes plan could take longer because there are no formal flight agreements between the park and tour operators, officials said.
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.