Dear HCN,
I am a professional
engineer and general techno-fan who aspires eventually to get a
pilot’s license for recreational flying. I am also a hiker and
boater who can’t understand why Americans feel they must have
access via gasoline-powered aircraft to some of the few remaining
remote places in this country. I believe all low-level overflights
of the Grand Canyon from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead should be banned,
except in emergencies. Motorheads have plenty of other places to
go! Let them mix it up with the Navy jocks in western Nevada or the
Air Force in Utah.
The economic arguments
promulgated by the tour operators in Las Vegas and Tusayan just
don’t wash. Sure, they get their $100 per person fares for an
overflight, but the sheer numbers of people on the ground who have
paid their Park Service entry fees for peace and quiet outweigh
them by far.
Robert G.
Richards
Helena,
Montana
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Motorheads, stay out!.
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