Aerial Advertisers Face Post 9/11 Challenges

click on photos to expand
Retired IPD Lt Harry Goss, left, and Red Calvert lay out tow lines for a banner.
(below)
Calvert and Russ Renton inspect a sign Renton will tow.
Goss makes repairs to a wind torn letter.
(below)
Renton just clears the tow rope, tail hook inches above the ground.
Beginning his climb after a successful snare (above), Renton heads off towards downtown Indy, banner in tow.
Photos by Jay Thompson
(posted July 6)

Clermont business owner Jeff Chapman wanted his business, Chapman Heating and Air Conditioning, to have greater market exposure than being just another coupon falling out of a mailer.

So after 25 years in the business, Chapman decided to reach customers a different way, by using Pro-Air Enterprises to tow his banner by plane. Chapman, a pilot himself, has "been picking" Red Calvert's brain for years since Chapman started working on his own plane.

Calvert, an FAA inspector, and his partner Harry Goss own four planes that fly banners throughout the Midwest. Calvert has been in aerial advertising business for 25 years.

Calvert learned the art of hooking a banner rope with his plane from "the school of hard knocks". Attaching a banner to the plane is similar to a Navy pilot landing on a carrier. Flaps down, throttled back, flying at 11 to 12 feet off the ground, tail hook dangling at the end of its cable, the pilot is aiming at the tow rope strung between two ten foot tall aluminum poles about 15 feet apart, making a difficult target to hit. The cable and hook don't always track directly behind the plane, and if the hook catches a pole, "I've seen them end up all the way out to that pole" Goss said, pointing to a utility pole at the end of the quarter mile grass strip. Once the cable is hooked, the pilot pushes the throttles forward and climbs out rapidly to counteract the drag as the plane takes on the banner's load, similar to a carrier pilot 's actions as he touches down on the flight deck.

An average banner is 30 x 100 feet and weights about 30 pounds. Calvert said they charge by flight time, with an additional charge for a 40 foot high banner. He said the extra 10 feet creates more drag, consuming six to seven more gallons of fuel per hour. At $6 per gallon for aviation fuel, that starts to add up. The banner's height influences drag more that the length. He described the drag as "running with concrete in your back pocket."

Calvert credited his desire to be a pilot from growing up next door to Sky Harbor airport at 21st Street and Post Road. It was destroyed in the early 1960s, and I-70 now runs through the former runway.

Calvert and Goss built their business by towing banners at IMS races, Thunder Over Louisville, and Purdue, IU and University of Kentucky football games. Calvert's first towing experience was at the Indianapolis 500 in 1956. He said the guy who was suppose to fly that day couldn't make it. He said he remembered the pilot saying to him "I'm busy, go have at it." Calvert recalled that his chest puffed out after receiving the call. "That was a big deal for a 16-year-old kid. I think I got a free lunch for doing the job"

Russ Renton has been flying for Calvert and Goss for three years now. He said the profession has sharpened his flying skills. He always uses a check list because he knows that complacency will be one of the first things to cause an accident. On a rare occasion a pilot will have to drop a banner due to engine problems or low fuel. Because the 30 pound weight of the banner is spread out over a large area of fabric, it floats to the ground rather than falling like a rock. Calvert said a banner is dropped about twice a year somewhere in the country.

At one time, Calvert and Goss had five planes and 12 employees. When business was booming, it was not unusual to have 50 to 70 banner tows for a one day major event. Then, 9/11 struck.

Calvert said "we couldn't fly for eight months." About 60 percent of the banner pilots got out of the business. "I went to Florida for five months," he said. At one time there were a half dozen companies that made the letters used to create signs towed by the plane, now there are two. Calvert and Goss have a sizeable inventory of the $26 a piece letters in a back room in their barn.

Goss said the federal government gave the commercial airlines $15 billion to cover their losses, but nothing to the little guys. Calvert said many of the banner companies folded because they couldn't make airplane payments while grounded.

Goss and Calvert joined in a lawsuit to repeal a law that restricted the airspace over NCAA class 1 football games and other special events for security reasons. Goss said the event can request a waiver from the FAA that allows planes to tow banners but that the pilots can't. The Federal courts refused to hear the case. To Goss, the waiver is saying a college can control airspace and not just the FAA. He said it was only suppose to be in effect until 2003, but for some reason it is still enforced. Goss tried to hire a Washington DC lobbyist but it was too costly since they had already lost the court ruling.

Goss said in 2002 a Federal agent with a bomb sniffing dog came out to the strip to perform an inspection prior to Goss's first flight after 9/11. The agent questioned if Goss was really fueling the plane with gas. Goss told the agent "It better be gas, because I'm planning on taking off in a few minutes, and the plane can't fly on explosives."

During a later inspection, several heavily armed agents flew in by helicopter prior to Goss heading to the Indy 500. "They all came charging out with rifles across their chests, stood around a bit, then got back on copter and took off. It was all we could do to keep from falling on the ground laughing." Goss said.

He warned that Americans need to wake up because we are losing our freedom in the name of national security. He said he does not oppose national security, but he and Calvert are the last people the government should be worrying about when Osama Bin Laden is still at large.

Calvert will be towing the American flag to start the Speedway Parade and Fall Festival at 2 pm September 20th.

For banner advertising contact Red Calvert at 317.430.2122.