Aviation

Unmarked white Boeing 737 with a red stripe parked behind a fence at a desert-edge airport terminal

Janet: The Commute Nobody Boards Without a Badge

White 737s with a red stripe ferry cleared workers from Las Vegas to the classified Nevada ranges. Public planes, private passenger list.

Cutaway illustration of the Grand Canyon showing stacked flight corridors and altitude bands with small tour aircraft following marked lanes above the rim

Aviation Communications and Grand Canyon Air Operations

Two midair collisions, 30 years apart, built the flight rules that govern every plane and helicopter over the canyon today.

Cutaway illustration of the fenced Grand Canyon Aviation Operations Area showing a helicopter on a pad, a fuel truck, and a rescuer suspended below a second helicopter on a long rope over canyon terrain

Grand Canyon's Aviation Operations Area and its short-haul rescue crew

A fenced helibase runs one of the busiest non-military federal flight programs, training rescuers who dangle from a rope to reach places helicopters can’t land.

Labeled cutaway illustration of the Grand Canyon South Rim showing a fenced helibase compound with a helicopter on a pad, a wildland fire truck, and a distant canyon rim under a no-drone symbol in the sky

Helipads and Remote Helicopter Sites at the Grand Canyon

One named helistop, one fenced helibase, and a federal flight-free zone dating to two mid-air disasters. Where the canyon’s helicopters are actually allowed to land.