FAA
puts no-fly zone over Arkansas oil spill with Exxon employee in
charge
RT,
4
April, 2013
The
FAA announced a temporary no-fly zone would be enacted indefinitely
over the Arkansas oil spill. With word that an Exxon employee was
controlling the airspace, though, speculation pointed to the idea the
oil company was trying to keep the media away.
The
Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday that until further
notice, no aircraft will be allowed to operate over the Mayflower oil
spill in Conway, Arkansas. While there was scant explanation for the
mandate, it was “effective immediately” - and ordered to stay in
place “until further notice.”
The
FAA's online posting raised some questions Wednesday, though, by
noting that “only relief aircraft operations under direction of Tom
Suhrhoff” are permitted in the area. On his LinkedIn profile,
Suhrhoff lists himself not as an emergency expert or safety official,
but as an aviation adviser for ExxonMobil. Prior to ExxonMobil,
according to his profile on the professional social network, he
worked as a US Army pilot for 24 years.
The
only reasoning provided on FAA.gov for “temporary flight
restrictions” was a “hazard” warning.
An
FAA spokesman told reporters that the flying ban applied to aircraft
flying at 1,000 feet or lower and within five nautical miles, so that
emergency support are able to respond to the disaster immediately.
However,
there’s been rampant speculation that the ban was enacted to censor
news cameras from taking shots of the disaster area.
Lynn
Lunsford, a spokesperson for the FAA, revealed that the restriction
was requested by local disaster officials and that the order would
eventually be amended to include news helicopters.
“They
are using at least one helicopter to provide aerial support for the
cleanup,” Lunsford said. “For safety reasons, they asked us to
protect the airspace 1,000 feet above the area to allow the aircraft
to move as needed.”
On
April 2, the day after flight activity was suspended, an aerial video
surfaced online revealing the extent of the damage.
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