Banner Pilots Hurt by Flight Ban
Thanks to the San Fernando Swap Meet, pilot Jerry Hider will have his first job today since the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults.
“I’m back with my banners,” said Hider, who flies long, plastic strips promoting Sony PlayStation, shrimp specials, adult entertainment Web sites and other messages in the skies above Southern California’s beaches, stadiums and residences.
“Well,” he said, pausing, “at least I’m back in the San Fernando Valley.”
Other sky-banner pilots have not fared as well since the Federal Aviation Administration grounded general aviation flights after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The agency eased restrictions earlier this month, allowing pilots to fly in the valleys north of the Los Angeles Basin but not within a 25-mile radius of Los Angeles International Airport or over heavily attended events, such as today’s UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
The no-fly zone was established for security reasons for pilots, such as the banner-carriers, who operate under visual flight rules, said FAA spokesman Jerry Snyder.
That has meant zero income for Star Ads Aerial Advertising, based at Torrance Municipal Airport, which falls within the FAA’s restricted area.
“We’re shut down,” said Tanya Reis, sales manager for the three-plane company, which tugs banners plugging suntan oils and beverages above beaches in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
“It’s going to be a beautiful weekend, and we can’t even take off,” said Reis, estimating that Star Ads has lost thousands of dollars in the last month. “It’s disappointing.”
It’s especially upsetting because the FAA ban occurred during the height of sky-banner season, when baseball, football and pleasant temperatures bring millions of people outdoors, Reis and others said.
The pinch is being felt nationwide, with aerial-banner carriers preparing for revenue drops of 70% or more. Some suppliers have already begun laying off workers.
“In all honesty, if things don’t turn around, I hate to think about what the next step is,” said Will Walden, secretary/treasurer of Nashville-based Gasser Banner Inc., one of the industry’s major suppliers.
The company has gone from 15 employees Sept. 10 to three today. Only the officers remain.
“Our business has virtually stopped,” Walden said.
Sky-banner pilots and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. complain that the restrictions punish businesses without providing any additional security.
“It’s a totally useless regulation,” said Don Arsenault, owner of Aerial Advertising in Austin, Texas, a 24-year-old company that flies four planes and gets 75% of its income during football season.
Association President Phil Boyer said senior FAA officials told the group that restrictions would be eased in the next few days.
But not everyone will welcome the return of sky banners.
“We’re glad they’re gone,” said Charles Thompson, a spokesman for the Rose Bowl, where UCLA faces the University of Washington at 12:30 p.m. today. “Neighbors hate the planes. They’re dangerous. They’ve almost flown into each other. They’re noisy, and no one pays attention to them.”
After nearly a month of silence, Hider’s phone started ringing this week in his cluttered hangar at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, where he keeps his four-seat Cessna 172, the engine behind his one-man company, Blue Yonder Air Ads.
On Wednesday, Hider received a two-day weekend assignment to fly over the Valley with a banner advertising free admission to the swap meet.
Then came another job for Sunday, when Hider will tug an aerial love note celebrating the first wedding anniversary of a couple who, fortunately, are throwing a party north of Mulholland Drive.
“I wouldn’t be able to do it if they lived over the hill,” Hider said, “unless they wanted to come to the Valley.”
Indeed, he’s touting the Valley and Ventura County beaches as romantic places for wedding proposals via his “Will You Marry Me?” banners.
“It can’t be done in Malibu anymore,” said Hider, who estimates that he has lost $5,000 since the terrorist attacks. “I’m telling people the Valley is a great place to advertise.”
He paused again. “I’m lucky,” he said. “At least I can do some flying.”
