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Plane mark2/28/2024 The superintendent of Brookline public schools sent a message to the community last week saying some children had seen the plane and its banner during recess and some were upset by it. He said it also was expected to fly over fans pre-gaming at Gillette Stadium before the Army-Navy game. The plane flew over Harvard again Saturday, according to FlightAware data and Simmons. But a spokesman said the FAA "does not regulate banner messaging." The Federal Aviation Administration requires banner-towing operators to file a certificate of waiver, and the FAA must provide a sign-off for pilots and aircraft. There does not appear to be a public place to learn who's paying for the banner. "I have no knowledge of who arranged the plane flying over Harvard’s campus and the surrounding area," he wrote. Rabbi Getzel Davis of Harvard in an email said he also doubts Jewish students are behind the banner. But that seems unlikely, according to Simmons. "I am on the right side of history with this message." His company does create the banner on behalf of the client.Īn email sent to a number of media organizations last week claimed that Jewish students were responsible for the flying banner. "We're just getting the message out," he said. He's been getting angry calls the past couple days, he said, but he's not sorry. ![]() But he's usually pulling signs with birthday greetings, congratulations or marriage proposals, he said. Simmons said his company, Simmons Aviation Services, has been in business for 25 years. The banner has created a minor furor on social media, coming just days after Harvard President Claudine Gay and other university leaders were called to Congress to be grilled on their responses to claims of antisemitism on school campuses.Īnd the plane's strange appearance comes during Hanukkah, when many in the Jewish community are feeling uneasy about reports of rising antisemitism amid the war in Gaza. 8, 2023, according to FlightAware tracking. ![]() from Westerly State Airport in Rhode Island and flew over Harvard, pulling a confusing banner with the Palestinian flag and the words "Harvard hates Jews." Flight of the plane towing banner over Harvard Dec. On Friday, the plane took off just after 10 a.m. This is a horrible place we're living in right now." "This is so hostile," he said of the reaction to the banner. He feels a need to protect them, he said. He said there's an intermediary between him and the customer: another banner-towing operator from out of state, who subcontracted the business to Simmons.Įven if he did know, Simmons said, he wouldn't reveal the customer's identity. ![]() "I don't know the name of the person or the company," Simmons said in a phone interview Friday. The question is, who's paying for this airborne message? Mark Simmons, who owns the company flying the plane, says he has no idea. A single-engine Cessna plane has been flying over the Harvard University campus, towing a banner apparently meant to taunt the institution and inflame emotions over the Israel-Hamas war. It's a bizarre mystery vexing Cambridge this week.
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