In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, all general aviation was grounded, including planes used to acquire domestic aerial photographs for mapping purposes.
An industry group comprised of companies in that business have appealed to the federal government to again let them fly in order to carry out the contract work they had scheduled this fall. See the announcement from MAPPS (the Management Association for Private Photogrammetric Surveyors) on Sept. 17.
One firm on the east coast was allowed to take photographs over the World Trade Center site to document the damage.
This is an ongoing story.
— based on a press release from MAPPS.