FAA won't punish pilot in NJ toilet paper drop
(AP) – 1 day ago

WESTWOOD, N.J. (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration won't take any action against a New Jersey pilot who tossed rolls of toilet paper from a small plane onto an athletic field as a test run for a streamer drop at an upcoming high school football game.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters told The Record of Woodland Park Friday that the agency investigated but found no grounds for further action against pilot Warren Saunders of Westwood.

Saunders still faces a state criminal charge.

Police said Saunders circled the Westwood Middle School athletic fields in his Cessna 172 on the evening of Oct. 13 and dropped two rolls of toilet paper. People at a nearby soccer practice called police.

Saunders' lawyer, Scott Berkoben, was out of his office and unavailable for comment Friday.

Information from: The Record, http://www.northjersey.com

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Just another reason why you should fly an old plane with the smaller height registration numbers.

Original article here:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/111910_FAA_wont_punish_Westwood_toilet_paper_pilot.html

Here's the NJ statute with which they are charging him:

6:2-11. Acrobatic stunts; low flying over public gatherings prohibited; penalty
Any airman or passenger who, while in flight over a thickly inhabited area or over a public gathering within this state, shall engage in trick or acrobatic flying, or in any acrobatic feat, or shall, except while in landing or taking off, fly at such a low level as to endanger the persons on the surface beneath, or drop any object except loose sand or water ballast, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

I posted a harsh comment there weeks ago, but it never got through the censors. Perhaps because it was so caustically critical of stereotype NJ residents.

Ouch man, that stings, I'm from Jersey!

yes, but water balloons and sand bag bombing is ok in NJ??

And a bunch of student pilots.....

....back in the day: used to bomb abandoned farm buildings with unopened, paper cans of Aeroshell oil. And the days of Air Force fighter pilots buzzing the courthouse and airliners flying VFR at 1,500 ft. a.g.l. and local pilots shooting touch and goes on I-70 when it was under construction...and.....and. Boy am I glad to have been young and foolish when folks still had a sense of humor.

Bob

Vick wrote:Ouch man, that stings, I'm from Jersey!

Hey, cream rises from every place.

This reminded me of a toilet paper incident from the past. It was about 1971. I was a kid on a FS helitack crew in central Washington. It was fall but not hunting season yet. Fire danger was pretty high and a detection plane called in a smoke way back in what now is the William O Douglas Wilderness.

He said it was a small smoke in dense timber next to a meadow and he had marked it real well with toilet paper. We hopped into our hughes 500 and flew up there. It was pretty easy to find. The tree canopy next to the meadow had toilet paper draped everywhere and there was a thin blue smoke coming out of the timber.

When we unloaded a guy came walking out of the timber. We went over to talk with him. Seems it was two guys who had packed in their elk camp with horses to set up for the coming season. The smoke was from the wood stove in their tent.

Here's the elk hunter's description of the detection plane: "What the hell's going on here? A while ago an airplane was circling our camp so I went out to wave at him. Then he started throwing toilet paper at me. Hell, I didn't have to wipe my ass." Now a helicopter?"

tcj wrote:This reminded me of a toilet paper incident from the past. It was about 1971. I was a kid on a FS helitack crew in central Washington. It was fall but not hunting season yet. Fire danger was pretty high and a detection plane called in a smoke way back in what now is the William O Douglas Wilderness.

He said it was a small smoke in dense timber next to a meadow and he had marked it real well with toilet paper. We hopped into our hughes 500 and flew up there. It was pretty easy to find. The tree canopy next to the meadow had toilet paper draped everywhere and there was a thin blue smoke coming out of the timber.

When we unloaded a guy cam walking out of the timber. We went over to talk with him. Seems it was two guys who had packed in their elk camp with horses to set up for the coming season. The smoke was fromthe wood stove in their tent.

Here's the elk hunter's description of the detection plane: "What the hell's going on here? A while ago an airplane was circling our camp so I went out to wave at him. Then he started throwing toilet paper at me. hell, I didn't have to wipe my ass." Now a helicopter?"

Now thats funny

During my dad's B25 training he spent some time in Greenville S.C. doing mostly training for the navigators although they carried a full crew on board. As in most military airplanes of that vintage the "toilet" was either a tube or a small can, to use the can you put a paper bag in it. It was a "you use it, you unload it" deal. On quite a few missions out over the Atlantic the navigator would have my dad fly right over downtown Greenville at 1500 ft and open the bomb bay doors. Never did tell him why. After several weeks of this my dad got called in to the C.O.'s office and got a real dressing down. Seems the mayor of Greenville had called several times and wanted to know who the hell was dropping bags of shit at the corner of Main and 1st. Needless to say they didn't do that any more. They shipped out together to the Pacific a little while later, as far as I know all of them came back at the end of the war with 24 missions to their credit.

What a scam! I always thought dropping a roll from 5-6k and cutting it with the wing was a great way to work on mastery of the aircraft. God forbid some biodegradable TP lands on something lol

It would be nice if the folks in NJ put a petition fourth to sue the DA personally for all the costs associated with this BS.

Sure seems like much ado about nothing, seems like the country is full of busybodies who just can't leave a guy alone. Yes there have been incidents in the past and just like most things if one accident happens "they" will outlaw anything similar. Shit happens sometimes while you are living life, if you can't handle it stay in the house all the time.

How ironic is it that this case is playing out in New Jersey, the state with the highest rate of toxic waste sites in the country. And they are whining about a roll of "biodegradable' paper.

Only in America . !!!!!!!

B.H.

IMO

No I will stay out of this one or it will go to Hot Air.

Good day

RobBurson wrote:IMO

No I will stay out of this one or it will go to Hot Air.

Good day

Yeah yeah, we know. Rolling my eyes at you bigtime.