Ban on news helicopters frustrates press

By freedomforum.org staff,
The Associated Press

10.24.01

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While the Federal Aviation Administration is allowing most private planes to return to the skies, except in Boston, New York and Washington, the agency has still banned news helicopters and blimps in 30 metropolitan areas.

Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, criticized the continuing ban, first established after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“The bottom line is, you can fly the type of flight identical to most news helicopters in all but three cities, but if your purpose is to report news, you're grounded,” Cochran told freedomforum.org.

Cochran testified on Oct. 17 before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation, asking that the ban be lifted.

FAA public affairs spokesman Hank Price told freedomforum.org that news reporting, traffic-watch and blimp aircraft "are not permitted to fly in enhanced Class B air space" — meaning any area within about 23 miles of a major metropolitan airport — "for national security reasons."

Price said he could not discuss the nature of any national security threat posed specifically by news and traffic helicopters as opposed to private helicopters, except to say that aircraft that tend "to fly in circular patterns" were of particular concern to the FAA and the National Security Agency.

FAA spokesman William Shumann added, "The issue isn't so much what they're flying as how they're flying." He said a news helicopter could fly a straight, point-to-point path using "instrument flying," which enables a control tower to track it. Visual flying, in which no flight path is established, is still not allowed, Schumann said.

"There is nothing to prohibit news helicopters flying in a straight line," Shumann told freedomforum.org.

In an Oct. 22 letter to the FAA, RTNDA urged the agency to lift the ban. The letter to FAA Adminstrator Jane Garvey asks why private aircraft have been allowed to resume flying in most major cities but news and traffic helicopters have not. The letter, written by aviation attorney Edward P. Fabermanon on behalf of RTNDA and the news media, also contends that the ban violates the First Amendment rights of broadcasters.

“Just last week, an NBC pilot in one of the twenty-seven communities, where general aviation flights were allowed to resume, was advised by local FAA officials that he could fly his helicopter — but he could not report the news,” the letter states. “Therefore, we cannot help but draw the inference that this is not a security issue but the primary focus of this flight restriction appears to be suppression of news — which raises significant First Amendment issues.”

The letter also states: "This restriction has significantly impacted news stations, the companies that provide helicopter service, their employees, and most importantly, the communities they serve. Perhaps most significantly, it has also blocked the broadcast of newsworthy information that is important to many local communities."

But the FAA's Shumann said the agency's rules were not issued to impede newsgathering.

"Banner tows and commercial sightseeing flights are all being treated equally," he said. The FAA has been working with other agencies and aviators "to incrementally restore" aviation "to what it was before Sept. 11," he added.

The cities affected by the news helicopter and blimp ban are:

Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City, Mo., Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Tenn., Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Fla., Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Fla., Washington, D.C.

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