FAA Investigating Money Drop

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The FAA has launched an investigation into whether a Las Vegas helicopter charter company violated safety regulations by dropping $10,000 in cash on a soccer field during halftime promotion for the local pro team. The Skyline Helicopter Tours aircraft circled the field in the packed stadium a half-dozen times before dropping the cash over 200 fans picked to chase after the swirling currency. It was at least the second time the Las Vegas Lights soccer team had staged the promotion but this time someone sent a video to the FAA.

There is no FAA rule about dropping stuff from aircraft except that it can’t cause injury to anyone on the ground. Since paper money isn’t dangerous from that point of view, the FAA is basing its investigation on a rule that says a pilot can’t fly below “an altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.” The company hasn’t commented but the owner of the soccer team insists the promotion was safe. “We believe they (Skyline) took all safety precautions necessary,” said owner Brett Lashbrook. “We are surprised by the FAA’s incredibly subjective rule that they seem to be citing.”

Russ Niles
Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Sounds the same as when the police are angry and are looking for just ANY violation they can use.
    Why not just let people who are just having a good time have their good time?

    • I believe the subjective part is “undue” hazard. Is potential autorotation onto a soccer field an undue hazard? Was it high enough (i.e. above the ‘rim’) to land outside the stadium?

      note: I’m not a helicopter pilot. I’m truly curious, not trying to start a flame war.

      • I presume the “undue hazard” is from the soccer field that was presumably occupied by 200 fans trying to collect the dropped money, precluding the helicopter from auto-rotating on to. I suppose there could also be concern that the helicopter was flying too slow given the altitude they were at for a successful auto-rotation (if you’re too low and slow, you don’t have enough energy in the rotor system for a safe auto-rotation).

  2. People who send videos of this kind of thing to the Federal government really should have been born in the ’30s. They could been informants for the NAZIs. Guess they missed their calling.

  3. Does it technically violate 91.119? Possibly. Was it really worth sending to the FAA to investigate? In my opinion, no. This smells like a fan who wasn’t among the 200 and had a chip on their shoulder. I’ve seen far worse (and arguably more dangerous) that no one has batted an eye at.

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