Sat, Jun 12, 2010
Media Flight Have Been Sharply Curtailed Over Oil Spill
Area
Journalists trying to get a story about the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill have found themselves regularly and seemingly
pointedly banned from the airspace over the spill area by BP,
local, and Coast Guard officials citing air safety concerns.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill TFR
In a recent incident, a seaplane charter company which had
contacted a command center for permission to transit the TRF was
sharply told "permission denied" as soon as the BP contractor heard
there would be media on board. A New Orleans Times-Picayune
photographer was hoping to get pictures of the broadening oil
slick.
The New York Times reports that the company was questioned
extensively about who would be on the aircraft, and who they work
for. The owners of Southern Seaplane said that as soon as they
mentioned media, they were told "not allowed."
The TRF published recently by the FAA does specify that anyone
requesting permission to transit the restricted airspace "should be
prepared to provide precise details of their requested flight
including: pilots name and contact information,
company/organization, purpose of flight, type aircraft, callsign,
ingress/egress points and times, requested altitude and route of
flight. Pilots will then be provided with additional instructions
for obtaining final approval and beacon code assignment."
Government and BP officials have said that the cases where media
flights have been denied access were coincidental, and that they
have gone to "great lengths" to accommodate media representatives
covering the spill ... which number in the hundreds. The FAA has
reportedly revised its flight restrictions specifically in response
to the incident with Southern Seaplane, but media flights are still
being reviewed on a "case by case basis."
A BP spokesman said the restrictions are to protect the safety
of both the media and those working on oil spill response and
mitigation. FAA spokesperson Laura Brown said that Southern
Seaplane was denied permission to fly because the FAA and Coast
Guard were enforcing an "essential flights only" policy at the
time. She said the only reason a BP contractor answered the phone
was because the FAA operations center is located in a BP
building.
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