Authorities Say It Had Nothing To Do With The Banner

An airplane towing a banner which read "Tiger: Are You My Daddy?" was asked to leave the airspace near the U.S. Open in Pebble Beach, CA, on Sunday. While the FBI says such a request near a large gathering of people is not uncommon, the FAA tells a different story.

A client of National Sky Ads had planned to have two banners flown near the golf tournament Sunday, but only one managed to be displayed before the pilot was contacted and asked to change his flight path. Company spokesman Ted Dereeder said the pilot had not violated any airspace rules when towing the first banner. Dereeder told The Mercury News that the plane had stayed at least a half-mile away from the golf course.

The FBI request was made through the control tower at Monterey Peninsula Airport. Special Agent Joseph Schadler said the request was made because of safety concerns. He said the agency wasn't even aware the plane was towing a banner. "It happens every single time, every single golf tournament that we are involved in. There's no difference in what happened on Sunday or what didn't happen on Sunday," he said.

But the FAA said that the FBI normally doesn't get involved in such matters unless there is criminal activity involved. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said that there was no record of the request being filed with ATC or the FAA.

Schadler said he did not know if the request was made by an FBI agent, or by someone involved with U.S. Open security. Lunsford said that while the FAA often gets requests for TFR's over golf tournaments, they are routinely denied. "We have not to date put anything like that in over any of these golf tournaments," he said.

Monterey County Sheriff's Commander Mike Richards said that there was only one other banner plane in the area, towing an advertisement for beer, which was reportedly not asked to divert away from the golf course. As to the plane towing the Tiger taunt? "It was a request, not an order," Richards said.

FMI: www.fbi.gov, www.faa.gov