Schiff Calls for Review of U.S. Forest Service's Nighttime Flying Policy

Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, announced that he has requested that the U.S. Forest Service re-consider its night and early morning flying policy. Rep. Schiff asked House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Chairman Jim Moran (D-VA) and Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) to include language requiring the review in the subcommittee´s 2011 funding bill currently moving through Congress. "Last summer, the Station fire raised questions about the Forest Service´s current night flying policy," said Schiff. "Since a tragic helicopter collision during the 1970's, the Forest Service has had neither the equipment nor the training to do night flights. As aviation technology improves we need to ensure that the Forest Service´s policies keep pace, so that we can guarantee Southern Californians the safest, most effective response whenever a fire breaks out." The Forest Service experimented with night flying in the 1970s, but after a pilot died in the tragic helicopter collision in 1977, the Forest Service discontinued the practice. Specifically, Rep. Schiff requested that the Forest Service examine whether its policy against night flying should be repealed and whether the Forest Service should once again acquire the equipment and provide the training necessary to accomplish night flights...more