Grand Canyon
 

I'm looking at flying a TBM750 over Grand Canyon whilst on a US tour and wondered if I need to be aware of any FAA regulations that might prevent that ? It would be a private non-commercial flight.

Look up the Grand Canyon sectional on Skyvector dot com There are VFR corridors which vary from 10500-13500ft depending on where you are.

Read the rules carefully. It is very busy airspace. Caravans, Twin Otters and 10-20 helicopters all doing tourist flights.

I did this about 10 years ago in a rented Beech 19. The money spent getting a local CFI to brief me on Grand Canyon charts and procedures was well worth it.

But, it can certainly be done.

G

Searching through the CFR (Title 14, Part 91) brings up Special Federal Aviation Regulation No. 50-2 - Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of the Grand Canyon National Park, AZ.

There is also Sub-part U of Part 93.

The Sub-part U regulations seem to be the most current applicable regulations (please correct me if I am wrong).

The rule applies to everything under 18,000 feet MSL within an area around the park (like the Grand Canyon Sectional Chart says).

Which is anything from roughly 12,000' to 17,000' AGL depending on whether you are over the canyon rim or the canyon itself!

It's a great thing to do, but you need to be really sure what you're doing. There's a special paper chart for it showing all the various corridors. It hasn't been updated for a long time but it is still the valid one.

iirc, below 18000 feet you are only permitted to fly certain corridors, and even so only quite high, to keep you out of the way of the tourist flights. They operate under special permits, which you will not be able to get. You can't get even close to the canyon rim, and you certainly can't fly below it.

I did it once but unfortunately there were forest fires and the view wasn't that great.

Last time I did it I flew west to east south of the rim and picked up the Eastern-most corridor up to Page and Lake Powell (which is worth a sight-seeing trip on its own).

Worth doing the training package at https://www.iat.gov/video_module.asp?id=1001 to get a good understanding of the procedures.

The permitted VFR corridors are strictly enforced and the lower level are still bl**dy high.

Our asthmatic rented Arrow couldn't make the altitude for the return corridor so we were flying against the flow in the outward corridor.

I tried to announce this on frequency as a warning but couldn't get a word in edge ways with all the commercial tour jocks chattering about where they were going to meet up that evening on the Strip.......

When I was at the Grand Canyon Airport in August last year for an early morning Caravan tourist flight, I saw a 172 depart at 0600 to take advantage of the lower density-altitude. The airport elevation is 6609'.

The Canyon is simple to navigate with Foreflight, which shows the VFR corridors as you zoom in. I always carry the printed Canyon chart and an antique 'VFR Guide' that has B&W photos from the POV of the corridor entry and exit points. Flight following is available at these levels and will warn of opposite corridor traffic. The tour traffic is far below when you are flying the corridors.

I doubt the corridor altitudes will be any problem to a TBM 750! It's quite right about the early morning departures in the summer, although DA isn't the only problem - it gets very bumpy indeed during the day. Especially in August, you can expect afternoon thunderstorms as well.

An interesting routing out of Vegas is along the Western end of Canyon just above the Special Rules Area (8000', steps up to 9000') as far east as Bar Ten Ranch (1Z1), then N out of the SFRA and East along the Arizona Strip Country with a possible landing at highly scenic Kanab (KNB). Then a Southbound crossing through the Fossil Corridor and back Northbound again through the Dragon corridor on more or less a direct track to Page, Arizona (PGA). At the end of that, your passengers (if you have them) will have seen enough Canyon for the day! And in the morning, there's Monument Valley...

I don't recommend Grand Canyon West and it's $100 landing fee, although some people enjoy the Skywalk...

How do I know? Well, I fly from Prescott, just 80mi S of the Canyon, so almost every trip involves crossing it somewhere!

Done it a few times, no big deal. Have a look at the chart (you can check it our on https://skyvector.com/ by navigating to KGCN and then displaying it from the menu on top of the page). The tour traffic will be below you, that's the whole point - to keep the commercial sightseeing traffic separated from transients.

Depending on time of year, early morning is indeed better, as less turbulent. It can get quite 'interesting' out there :E In winter usually not an issue. If you have (as you should) flight following, the controller will sometimes ask you which corridor you'd like to fly. Just be prepared for that Q. It's a pretty spectacular flight, but the only corridor that actually goes along the canyon is the Zuni corridor at the eastern edge of the park, the other ones cross it at roughly 80-90deg angles. Btw, while you are there, Monument Valley is nearby to the east and definitely worth a visit :ok:

Thanks to all for the valuable feedback and comments.