<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2OKHzl_0lqGVIsr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2OKHzl_0lqGVIsr00" width="640" height="360" ><figcaption>The shadow of a Goodyear Blimp is cast as it hovers over Raymond James Stadium in 2017. The FAA restricts aircraft from flying over crowds at major sporting events, but not major concerts like Taylor Swift's three sold-out shows. [&nbsp;Times (2017)&nbsp;]</figcaption></figure>Small aircraft are forbidden from flying over crowds of more than 30,000 people at major sporting events, but the same won’t be true for a concert of more than 65,000 Taylor Swift fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.Despite a formal request from the Tampa Sports Authority, which was backed by Homeland Security and the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration denied the stadium managers’ request for a flight restriction over Swift’s three sold-out Tampa shows. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>“It doesn’t make sense that for a sporting event you can keep airplanes from circling the stadium, but you have a much larger crowd for a concert and they are free to go,” said Eric Hart, CEO of the Tampa Sports Authority.You can’t fly a drone over a crowd, according to FAA regulations, but you can fly a Cessna.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2C1cPY_0lqGVIsr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2C1cPY_0lqGVIsr00" width="620" height="413" ><figcaption>Taylor Swift performs Cruel Summer during her first sold-out concert of three nights at AT&amp;T Stadium in Texas on Friday, March 31, 2023. [&nbsp;MADELEINE COOK | Star-Telegram&nbsp;]</figcaption></figure>A federal law that was crafted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks restricts airplanes from flying within a three-mile radius of any stadium with a seating capacity of 30,000 or more people during an event held by Major League Baseball, the National Football League, NCAA Division I football games or a major motor speedway event.<nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>The FAA puts out what are called Temporary Flight Restrictions “to protect people ... and prevent the unsafe congestion of aircraft in the vicinity of a major sporting event.” On any given day, there are typically several TFRs in place across the nation’s airspace, according to the FAA. Major concerts are unable to obtain the restriction under current law.Roger Caram-Andruet, a pilot and owner of Skyspot Advertising based out of Lakeland, said the restrictions are unpopular with pilots who feel that it is more likely about protecting the NFL and other sporting companies’ broadcasting and advertising rights than for security reasons.<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3FOnAV_0lqGVIsr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3FOnAV_0lqGVIsr00" width="700" height="1600" ><nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>“Why it OK to fly overhead when there are 200,000 people at a soccer game but not OK to fly over 1,000 people at a NASCAR race?” Caram-Andruet said. “It’s never been an issue as far as I know. It’s perception. If there is no TFR you are within your rights to fly aerial advertising.”Caram-Andruet has flown over Swift’s concerts in the past and many other local events, such as the Florida Strawberry Festival. Rather than towing a banner, his plane runs a lighted scroll message with an electronic sign from a Cessna 172.He often flies over concerts at Raymond James Stadium and “he drives us crazy,” Hart said. Aside from the safety issue of flying over a crowd, he said the artists dislike the noise and distraction the small plane brings to the scene.<nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1n8avT_0lqGVIsr00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1n8avT_0lqGVIsr00" width="426" height="284" ></figure>In 2021, California Congressman Raul Ruiz tried to add large outdoor concerts and music festivals to the FAA regulations, but the bill died.“Whether an audience is protected shouldn’t depend on whether they are watching a football team or listening to a band,” Ruiz said at the time.The Tampa Sports Authority said they thought the high profile of Swift’s shows could get the FAA’s attention.<nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate>“We’ve been trying to solve this problem with Taylor Swift concerts for many years,” Hart said. For her third stadium tour in Tampa they got started early in the formal approval process to restrict flights over her concerts and said they got approval from both the FBI and Homeland Security. But in early April, they learned their request was denied by the FAA.Hart said they weren’t given a reason but that in the past it was cited as an infringement on free commerce.Caram-Andruet said he doesn’t know if he will be flying over Swift’s concerts this week, saying “I don’t want to cause problems and you never know if Taylor’s fans would turn on my advertisers.”</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

Small aircraft are forbidden from flying over crowds of more than 30,000 people at major sporting events, but the same won’t be true for a concert of more than 65,000 Taylor Swift fans at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Despite a formal request from the Tampa Sports Authority, which...