6/3/2010 - Vitriol Over Louisiana Gulf Flight
It took only a few days for the FAA to issue a first 30 mile TFR over the deadly Deepwater Horizon oilrig. Louisiana coast air charter operators are accustomed to gulf TFRs and unfortunately disaster. This area still bears scars from hurricanes of years ago. These operators are the same companies to be first in the air after hurricanes and know marshes, wetlands and islands better than anyone.
Local professional pilots helped evacuate the stranded and evaluate initial storm damage in remote areas, some using part 135 seaplanes. Single engine seaplanes that were the backbone of an emerging coastal oil business over fifty years ago are still operating in the gulf today.
-Local seaplane operators have a fifty year history of service to coastal platforms-
During good times, air charter companies including helicopters, fixed wing and floatplanes number between 5,000 to 9,000 operations per day in this area making a living off the water. About a dozen or so of these coastal charter businesses have been in continual operation for decades. They have also seen oil platforms move farther and farther off shore and the number of over water flights dramatically increase.
-On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the rig, Deepwater Horizon, left eleven crewmen dead. The resulting fire could not be extinguished and continuing to leak oil on April 22, 2010, the rig sank. The rig was drilling but was not in production, according to a spokesman for its owner, Transocean Ltd., in Houston. The rig was under contract to British Petroleum.-USCG image-
After the first week of the rig collapse and subsequent oil spill, valid requests for the operator's TFR flights were curiously denied. Soon additional TFRs were issued encompassing a large part of the gulf coast. According to one operator, the FAA was co-located with British Petroleum's operation center and BP began deciding who would be allowed to fly, not the FAA.
According to BP, the reason these company flight plans were denied was "the use of single engine aircraft are not deemed as safe according to BP standards and only twin engine aircraft are permissible". This was in spite of numerous single engine CAP aircraft currently flying missions over the gulf. Those passengers denied flight were specifically scientist, charter boat operators, members of the media and even high level local elected officials. Charter customers in the oil industry were requesting flights and so were reporters to document the oil spill. Yet the operator's requests were denied.
According to FAA Advisory Circular No: 91-63C, this is a 91.137 Hazard TFR and the rules allow operators to carry media. Appendix 6 subparagraph of Section 91.137 (a)(5) states: The aircraft is carrying properly accredited news representatives, and before entering the area, a flight plan is filed with the ATC/FSS facility specified in the NOTAM, and the operation is conducted above the altitude used by the disaster relief aircraft, unless otherwise authorized by the official in charge of on-scene emergency response activities. And these passengers were directly related to the cleanup response.
Even though the services of these coastal charter operators were in high demand, their valid requests were denied, not by the FAA but the Coast Guard in Houma through BP "consultants". These charter operators were essentially put out of business along with the paralyzed fishing industry that dominoed along the coast from Louisiana to Alabama and beyond.
-A U.S. Air Force chemical dispersing C-130 aircraft from the 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station, Ohio, drops an oil dispersing chemical into the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort, May 5, 2010. Members of the 910th Airlift Wing are in Mississippi to assist with response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The 910th AW specializes in aerial spray and is the Department of Defense's only large area fixed wing aerial spray unit. U.S. Air Force Photo by Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz.-
With thousands of square miles of gulf, only a fraction of the usual air traffic remains with spray planes, mapping planes, Guard helicopters and BP contractor flights allowed. Instead of using the local knowledge and skill to help cleanup efforts as in the Exxon Valdez disaster, the coastal aviation industry came to a halt.
-Helicopter industry serves hundreds of off shore deep water rigs-NOAA image
Almost three weeks passed before the FAA regained control of the gulf airspace from the British. The words of James Carville rang true, ..."take control of this, put somebody in charge of this...". Congressional pressure and elected officials intervened so the established temporary flight rules, TFR, would be followed as with Katrina and other gulf coast disasters. At least for now the coastal air charter companies may survive British Petroleum and in the future provide services even more valuable to restore their fragile shore. B Meyer, FMI: FAA Advisory Circular No: 91-63C , Deepwater Horizon Spill , Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
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