Female banker hires plane to buzz S&Ps New York HQ with banner message
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. A banker & mother-of-two delivered a clear message to finance executives after hiring a pilot to fly over Wall Street yesterday. The aerial stunt was commissioned by Lucy Nobbe of St Louis Missouri a vice president with private equities and investment firm Wedbush Morgan Securities who works from her home in Kirkwood.
The flyby - which followed less than a week after the U.S. credit rating was downgraded from AAA to AA by S&P - came around lunchtime on Tuesday when office workers were buzzing about the streets.
American Banker broke news of the sighting via Twitter.
Thanks For The Downgrade: You Should All Be Fired read the banner that blazed across the Manhattan skyline - and past Standard & Poors New York headquarters.
Ms. Nobbe initially declined to be named in an interview to protect her own finance job. However once she saw all the attention the banner was getting she agreed to be interviewed.
The 51-year-old said:
I couldnt believe this happened because they were acting silly and being irresponsible. I thought that is something that I could do that wouldnt cost a million dollars and maybe someone would listen to me.
She claims she is not the type of person to actively protest or even wave banners but thought it would be a good example for her daughters Holly 11 and Jacqueline 15.
Holly said she is proud of what her mom did: She definitely stands up she is different than other moms she stands up and Im really proud of her. I am glad to have a mom like that.
It cost Ms. Nobbe $895 to fly the banner around New York but the company she used flysigns.com was so impressed with her idea that they gave her a discount.
Ms. Nobbe said that she hopes it will be the wake-up call that lawmakers need It feels pretty good I mean a lot of time I think those things but I dont do it and this time I actually did it. I dont regret it.
Flying the plane over Manhattan wasnt her first choice however.
I originally wanted to fly it over Washington D.C. but learned that you cant do that. So I chose
Wall Street instead she said.
She also didnt specifically intend it to fly over S&P.
Explaining her conviction she added: Im just a mother from St Louis who feels the only reason we got downgraded was people in politics.
Matthew Applegate of Aerial Sign North piloted the plane but could not be reached for comment.
