Mount Rainier National Park is exploring whether to impose stricter limits on commercial air tours over the park.
Flightseeing has proven to be a hot button issue in other places where it's come up, such as Crater Lake National Park.
Five air charter companies currently offer scenic tours over Mount Rainier. The usual route includes one close up loop around the iconic peak passing over its glaciers.
Park Service planner Lelaina Marin says visitor surveys consistently find people come to national parks to escape the din of everyday life.
But she says tighter rules for airplane and helicopter tours are not a preordained outcome of the review now underway.
Leilana Marin: "We're trying to determine if there are impacts and if we need to manage accordingly and through the process decide whether we need to limit or not."
Rocky Mountain National Park is the only U.S. park to completely ban air tours.
Last summer in Oregon, a helicopter tour operator sparked a public outcry by proposing scenic flights over Crater Lake.
That proposal is on hold while the park service this year measures ambient noise around Crater Lake.
If you want to weigh in, the Park Service and the FAA are taking public comments on air tour regulation at Mount Rainier until May 12th.
Online:
FAA/National Park Service Air Tour Management planning
