Banner plane spreads message of frustration over rules

The banner made Irene Gunn pause over her gin and tonic.

Up and down the Pinellas coast, she and other weekend beachgoers were puzzled by the little gray plane towing the giant American flag and the message, "PRESIDENT BUSH WE ARE NOT A THREAT!"

"What does that mean?" Gunn, 63, asked the bartender at Frenchy's on Clearwater Beach.

No one knew.

Gunn and a couple of dozen other people called either the control tower at Albert Whitted Airport or Advertising Air Force at Hanger 3 to ask about the banner.

Mary Singer, operations chief at Advertising Air Force, said the banner is part of a nationwide protest by banner plane companies against restrictions that prevent them from flying at sporting events in the wake of last year's terrorist attacks.

Hundreds of planes across the country flew the message this weekend. The restrictions cost Singer's company about 25 percent of its business, she said, and for inland banner planes without a beach audience, the impact is worse.

"It's our little way of saying, 'Hey, we're not the ones threatening anybody,' " said Singer, who wears a T-shirt to work that says "The few . . . the proud . . . the banner people."

Banner planes, along with blimps and other nonessential aircraft, must stay 3 nautical miles out and 3,000 feet above major sporting events, according to post-Sept. 11, 2001, regulations set by the National Transportation Security Administration.

Pilots could apply for a waiver until two weeks ago, when the agency raised the security alert level around stadiums and canceled all waivers.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the restrictions stem from concerns that an aircraft could be used as a weapon.

But banner plane companies are going out of business because of the regulations, which the companies believe have more to do with money than safety, said William Bruckner, secretary of the U.S. Aerial Advertising Association and owner of Florida Aerial Advertising in St. Petersburg.

Stadiums and sporting associations pressure the government to maintain the restrictions because they compete with banner planes for advertising revenue, he said.

"We're not a threat," he said, noting that no banner-pulling plane has ever collided with a person at a sporting event. "We're only a threat to their pocketbooks."

Locally, the protest banner flew up the coast to Tarpon Springs on Saturday and to Clearwater Beach on Sunday, Singer said. A single-seat Piper Cub about the size of a school bus towed the 20- by-50-foot flag and the 5-foot capital letters.

Monday night, it will circle above the parking lot at Raymond James Stadium while tailgaters are getting ready for the Bucs' game against the St. Louis Rams. The plane is allowed to fly until two hours before the game, Singer said.

Callers are generally supportive when they hear the reason for the banner, Singer said.

Mrs. Gunn was one of those callers.

"Well, it's just the dumbest thing I ever heard of," Gunn said. "What's security got to do with a banner? It's a bunch of letters."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright