According to the banner tow operator, who witnessed the accident, the pilot was hired about two months before the accident.
On the accident flight, the pilot departed Runway 32 from the airport in Middle Township, New Jersey, and flew a left traffic pattern to pick up the banner at the approach end of Runway 14, which was normal procedure.
The airplane descended toward the banner, but missed the haul line during the pickup attempt. The plane then climbed nose-high and stalled, spinning right and hitting the runway. The pilot was killed in the crash.
Engine noise was consistent throughout the accident.
Another witness stated that he was seated in an airplane, with the engine running, waiting to take off next and pick up a banner. He observed the Piper PA-12 come down between the poles, miss the banner, and the accident pilot made a really “hard snap,” climbing almost vertically.
It looked to the witness as though the accident pilot “kicked rudder” at the top of his climb to see if he had picked up the banner. The witness added that he believed this caused the right wing to come out from the slipstream, resulting in an aerodynamic stall.
According to FAA publication FS-I-8700-1 (Rev. 1), “Information For Banner Towing Operations:” Stalls during the banner pickup procedure constitute one of the more frequent causes of banner towing operational accidents. A stall occurs when an airfoil reaches a critical angle of attack (AOA) and is a function of wing loading, independent of airspeed. In fact, an excessively abrupt rotation of an airplane during a pickup, or a snap or steep turn after a missed pickup, may be sufficient to precipitate an accelerated stall.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during a missed banner pickup, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall/spin and loss of control at an altitude too low to recover.
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This July 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
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