Canyon de Chelly in Arizona will become latest national park unit to ban commercial air tours

CANYON DE CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT, Ariz. (AP) — Commercial air tours will soon be prohibited over Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona under a plan approved this week by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service. The park service says the plan was signed Thursday and will take effect in 180 days, barring any legal challenges. It will ban the tours over the park and just outside its boundary. The park lies within the Four Corners region inside the Navajo Nation. Critics say such flights disturb tourists experiencing nature below.