The pilot flying a helicopter over Wrightsville Beach in an August marketing stunt was cleared by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of violating any aviation laws.
Pilot Jessica Ward asserted in an August interview with Lumina News that she hadn’t violated federal regulations, a position validated by the FAA last week. Furthermore, while Wrightsville Beach town officials considered filing criminal charges in the incident, the district attorney’s office never filed charges against Ward.
“The FAA investigated the incident, however, inspectors found no violations of the Federal Aviation regulations and closed the case,” the FAA stated in an email to Lumina News.
The incident occurred Aug. 16, when Ward, owner of High Tide Helicopters in Oak Island, North Carolina, flew a marketer over the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s annual beach party for students, dropping flyers with dollar bills attached. Town officials maintained the stunt was dangerous and considered a variety of charges, including littering.
“As long as they’re not creating a dangerous situation, helicopters can fly as low as they like,” Ward said in August, adding that there are areas where helicopter altitude is regulated, but those restrictions weren’t in place at Wrightsville Beach.
The town does have an altitude ordinance of 500 feet, but town officials eventually asked the district attorney’s office to pursue a misdemeanor charge of “dangerous flying” against the marketer, which is in the state code.
However, in her August interview, Ward maintained that federal regulations supersede local and state laws. Ward did not return calls for comment.
George Taylor III, founder and chief executive officer of startup app Likeli, has a court date scheduled for late November in the case. Taylor apologized for the incident, which prompted criticism online for the littering and concerns about student safety. He said the promotion was mishandled and that the company had staff on hand to clean up the flyers, but many went into the water. The company organized a beach sweep cleanup in response.
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Photo courtesy of Caleb Kuhne.
Correction: Pilot Jessica Ward was misidentified in an earlier online edition and in the Oct. 27 print edition of Lumina News.
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