Crazy Question

bluesky74656

bluesky74656

Line Up and Wait
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Todd Kooser
My job for the summer is putting together a festival that will be held in the beginning of August (htttp://www.theFEST.us). The guy that runs it asked me if it was feasible to, at a pre-determined moment, shower the crowd with hearts cut out of rice paper.

Now, 91.15 "does not prohibit the dropping of any object if reasonable precautions are taken to avoid injury or damage to persons or property." I don't see any way these rice paper hearts could cause injury or damage... they won't fall fast enough to hurt anyone and they'll just disintegrate with any sort of moisture, so cleanup is almost a non-issue.

The gotcha seems to be 91.119 (b) which says: "Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft." So, if we were to try this, we would need to drop from at minimum 1000 feet above the tallest object within 2000 feet, which would practically mean about 1200 feet AGL. This would make wind calculations tricky and important.

So, I have two general questions. Firstly, can anyone think of a "gotcha" that I haven't though of.

Secondly, if the wind conditions are such that we find we shouldn't drop over the crowd, but rather half a mile or a mile away over an open field, it seems to me that 91.119 (c) would apply rather than (b), so we could drop from 500 feet rather than 1000.

Practically speaking, I see this being accomplished by passenger in something like a Cub that has large windows or removable doors.

Thoughts?
 
All I can say is "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly"! :D

Practically, I think it's going to be an issue unless you rig something external to the plane.

Legally, I'd tread very carefully. Beyond the object drop legalities, you should also be concerned about whether it's going to be considered a commercial operation.

Finally, regardless of legalities, you need to think of PR issues if someone does complain about stuff being dropped from a plane.

I'll leave the details of the FARs to someone who has more knowledge of their interpertation.
 
Rice paper, I wouldn't worry about the dropping of it. And you could always call the FSDO and get a waiver. Happens with airshows all the time.
 
EdFred said:
Rice paper, I wouldn't worry about the dropping of it. And you could always call the FSDO and get a waiver. Happens with airshows all the time.
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A waiver from the FSDO was going to be my suggestion, as well. I'd also suggest doing a practice drop or three, too! :)
 
You might get arrested for litterin' and have to go sit on the "group W" bench.
 
EdFred said:
Rice paper, I wouldn't worry about the dropping of it. And you could always call the FSDO and get a waiver. Happens with airshows all the time.
Click to expand...

gprellwitz said:
A waiver from the FSDO was going to be my suggestion, as well. I'd also suggest doing a practice drop or three, too! :)
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What Ed and Grant said. And be sure you use a commercial-rated pilot and an airplane insured for a commercial operation. :yes:
 
As long as no money changes hands and the pilot pays all airplane expenses himself, I see no reason for it to be considered a commercial operation. If I were doing this, I'd ask the promoter to provide me with some sort of liability coverage WRT the hearts.
 
gismo said:
As long as no money changes hands and the pilot pays all airplane expenses himself, I see no reason for it to be considered a commercial operation.
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True, but as they'll need a waiver to fly low enough, the FAA is already gonna be sniffin' around - And who knows, they may require a commercial-rated pilot to approve the waiver anyway.
 
Try to foresee problems before they occur, you know - "PPPPPPP".
If you drop a bunch of paper, hoping a 1000 individual sheets fly out, how can you know they won't inadvertently leave as a single 30lb bomb?
I would do a bunch of dry runs first, over an unpopulated area.
 
No question in my mind you'll need waivers from the FSDO both for overflight and dropping. You can ask the FSDO, but I doubt they'll give a waiver for any overflight of the crowd. Even worse if you want to drop something on them, no matter how innocuous it may seem. Every year at the AYA Bomb Drop, somebody loses sunglasses, or a headset, or even a coffee mug while dropping their flour-filled paper sandwich bag (which often lands hundreds of feet, and occasionally a thousand feet, from the target), which is why we're very careful about choosing the drop zone and run-in line. Don't want any of that happening with a crowd below.

So, definitely don't do it without asking, but if you do ask, be prepared for them to say, "You want to do what? No stinkin' way!"
 
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