Snoqualmie Falls is 28 miles southeast of Seattle. [File Photo: Adobestock]
Key Takeaways:
The Snoqualmie Tribe is advocating for flight restrictions over Snoqualmie Falls, a sacred ancestral site, due to low-flying aerial tours (helicopters, drones, planes) disrupting spiritual ceremonies, intruding on privacy, and raising safety concerns.
Despite the falls being listed as a Traditional Cultural Property, there are no specific minimum altitude regulations for commercial air tours, prompting the tribe to appeal to the FAA for intervention to establish such restrictions.
The tribe's goal is to implement limitations on air tours (e.g., altitude, frequency, duration, or no-fly periods) to protect the falls' sacredness and ensure safety for all visitors, not to prohibit all flights over the area which also serves as a critical flight corridor.
Are the Snoqualmie Falls scenic or sacred? That depends on who you ask.
The falls, located approximately 28 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, are considered to be one of the most gorgeous natural wonders in the Evergreen State. They stand 268 feet tall and are very popular for aerial tours.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
