Pilot busted for dropping bag of flour out of airplane near Phoenix

[B GUMPS]

I heard this on the radio this morning. A pilot of a small airplane was arrested for dropping a bag of flour on some people northeast of Phoenix yesterday, just wondering if anyone heard anything about this.

 

[TDTURBO]

Guess it beats dropping bowling balls, then again, depends on the neighborhood.

 

[ATL2CDG]

Already on the board.

Oops!

 

[sandslob]

Unless you’re Julia Child… why would you want to have FLOUR in your plane? I think it was someone getting rid of some nose candy or disposing of Grandpa’s ashes.

Maybe even too high and confused thus snorting Grandpa’s ashes and getting rid of some nose candy!

 

[azpilot]

I heard the pilot will be charged with illegal dumping. Such a friggin joke. Apparently people were participating in a paintball event and friends thought it would be funny to bomb them with flour. Of course the news latched on to the "White Powder" aspect of the story. Could someone please kill someone with a different color powder so we can move on.

 

[Lead Sled]

Guess it beats dropping bowling balls, then again, depends on the neighborhood.

Do you guys remember the episode on the old TV series WKRP in Cinncinati where they had the bright idea of dropping live turkeys only to find out too late that domesticated turkeys can't fly?

Actually, the best stuff to throw out of an airplane are rolls of toilet paper - it's a hoot trying to cut it up on the way down. (Did I really say that?)

'Sled

 

[mattpilot]

man.. i dropped a shiatloads of stuff from aircraft. Of course in concordance with 91.15


How does one prove adequate precautions were taken? I mean comon..... flour doesn't hurt anyone? Is a call to local authorities required to notify them you are going to drop something? Seems stupid that they try to nail him for that. Even the altitude he was flying at (supposedly "to low") shouldn't get him into trouble because he obviously was safe, since nothing happened. I doubt there were any structures in those woods.


edit:

Actually, the best stuff to throw out of an airplane are rolls of toilet paper - it's a hoot trying to cut it up on the way down. (Did I really say that?)

(i say no more)

 

[mattpilot]

deleted: Double post

 

[Lead Sled]

...flour doesn't hurt anyone...

It does if it's still in the 5 pound bags.

 

[FN FAL]

It does if it's still in the 5 pound bags.

You must be a college student...a 1 pound bag and a 5 pound bag will fall at the same speed!

Just kidding...with ya lead sled, I know what ya meant.

On a side note, the wife and I showed up at the drop zone many years ago one sunday and the jumpers were doing their annual cabbage toss. With permission from the airport of course.

They had painted a circle at the north end of runway 36 (grass strip) and they were taking 3 club memebers up at time and letting them drop a cabbage at the target.

Of course, we were all down there standing in the safest place to watch, the circle. The plane would come by, out would come a cabbage and it would land in the corn field someplace. Some were landing on the runway.

Needless to say, any vehicle that was parked on 36 automatically drew the cabbage towards it. It was almost like a magical magnetic force.

So one jumper almost got his dodge pickup drilled, so he moved it. Although to tell you the truth, it appeared to be a safe distance away to begin with. Then the golf cart almost got drilled. They moved that.

Then one of our jump pilot/skydivers shows up in his Sheriff's Department GMC Blazer 4x4 and parks 50 feet away from the circle. He had a rookie partner with him and I was a little nervous for them, so I went over and tried to convice the SGT to "move along now".

He didn't think there was going to be a problem and wanted to stay and watch the cabbage come down. So here comes the 182 and the cabbage is released. All indications were that it was going through the roof of the Blazer...there were about 10 or 15 of us standing by the Blazer and we all could tell by the fact that the cabbage appeared to not move, that it was headed our way.

The two cops realize this and jump in the truck, put it in reverse and floor it. Since the truck was on sod, it just stayed still and the only thing moving was the tire spinning out throwing sod everywhere. Everybody else ran away from the squad for their lives.

The Blazer is still spinning and not moving, when all the sudden... "Whummmmmp!" It burned in right next to the rear wheel, not more than three feet away from the spinning rear wheel. This was actually caught on tape.

The SGT backed up and left...and I'm sure him and Deputy Poopy pants went home and cleaned out their drawers.