User Panel
Posted: 5/17/2023 1:39:41 PM EDT
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He was too low and slow. Looked like he started a stall and cut the banner at the same moment. The banner cut may have added some yaw, roll, or pitch change that accelerated the stall.
Unless the banner clipped something and slowed him down to stall speed. RIP |
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Don't know about the left coast, but the banner planes flying up and down the beach on the right coast are usually clapped out, stripped down lawnmowers with wings that barely get off the deck under their own power. Always thought those pilots were suicidal.
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Stalled it. It can be tricky towing a banner in a mediocre powered single engine airplane, you need to manage airspeed and angle of bank constantly like you are in the landing pattern.
I've never flow a banner plane but I've flown sky jumpers and that can be hairy as well... potential major shifts of the CG as jumper move forward ready to jump and you're slowed down not much above stall speed. |
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Looks like a Pawnee "old crop duster" used for banner tow all the time now. Fuel tank "100LL" sits right behind the engine.
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I knew more than one banner tow guys who died on the job. Along with being an instructor, flying skydive planes, and back in my day flying night cargo the least experienced pilots have the most dangerous and worst paying jobs. Not sure how I survived flying bank checks and piss around in shit weather with shit airplanes at 3am for $1200/mo.
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One of my friends from college died while flying banners.
RIP. |
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Wee Too Low was the pilot.
I can't tell if he released the banner or it snagged the building. |
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Never fly that low over populated areas. Should have cut that banner much sooner. Always point the nose DOWN to gain airspeed. Classic stall.
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Quoted: I knew more than one banner tow guys who died on the job. Along with being an instructor, flying skydive planes, and back in my day flying night cargo the least experienced pilots have the most dangerous and worst paying jobs. Not sure how I survived flying bank checks and piss around in shit weather with shit airplanes at 3am for $1200/mo. View Quote Hell of a way to rack up hours. |
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Quoted: I knew more than one banner tow guys who died on the job. Along with being an instructor, flying skydive planes, and back in my day flying night cargo the least experienced pilots have the most dangerous and worst paying jobs. Not sure how I survived flying bank checks and piss around in shit weather with shit airplanes at 3am for $1200/mo. View Quote I’ve been to a Bank Check flight crash, female pilot, killed, went down immediately after take off, couple miles from the airport, Orlando Executive, full fuel load into a house about two blocks behind mine, Ran as first due to a Banner Plane crash at Merritt Island Airport, poor son of a bitch missed hooking the banner , the rig bounced and wrapped his rudder, he rode it around and almost made the field, cut power to soon and went down in the brush off the side of the runway. Almost survived, caught the one big, solid palm tree in the brush patch, drove the engine right back into him. His Wife was on the runway, laid out the banner…. |
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While at the beach, I've often thought flying banners up and down the coast might be a cool retirement gig. This thread has me second guessing that.
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Quoted: Plane looks fairly intact…burned to death? View Quote Just watched the video. That was a stall/spin or at least incipient spin. I’d bet he died on impact. Blessedly. I knew a guy who wrecked a cargo plane on takeoff and unfortunately for him survived burning in the cockpit. He died after months in the hospital. |
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Quoted: I knew more than one banner tow guys who died on the job. Along with being an instructor, flying skydive planes, and back in my day flying night cargo the least experienced pilots have the most dangerous and worst paying jobs. Not sure how I survived flying bank checks and piss around in shit weather with shit airplanes at 3am for $1200/mo. View Quote I would not call the PC-6 a shit airplane. Actually I would LOVE to own one. @pilatuspilot |
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Quoted: I would not call the PC-6 a shit airplane. Actually I would LOVE to own one. @pilatuspilot View Quote I drove cargo in 401, 402, 404, Aerostar, and a check ride then a couple flights in Mu-2 before I had the time to go corporate and quit. Those planes all smelled like sweat, piss, stress, and tetanus. Never flew a Porter but I have more PC-12 time than should be legal. Fortunately haven’t really flown one in years. |
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Dam this sucks. I know those guys are good pilots. These planes are always flying over me and sometimes during windy or cloudy days I really wonder if they should be up towing anything at all. RIP
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Quoted: Don't know about the left coast, but the banner planes flying up and down the beach on the right coast are usually clapped out, stripped down lawnmowers with wings that barely get off the deck under their own power. Always thought those pilots were suicidal. View Quote Usually just desperate for flight time. Low speed, low altitude and low flight time is a dangerous mix. |
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Quoted: Stalled it. It can be tricky towing a banner in a mediocre powered single engine airplane, you need to manage airspeed and angle of bank constantly like you are in the landing pattern. I've never flow a banner plane but I've flown sky jumpers and that can be hairy as well... potential major shifts of the CG as jumper move forward ready to jump and you're slowed down not much above stall speed. View Quote I'd fly crop dusting before towing a banner. |
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Quoted: Pawnee? View Quote Air Tractor, square wing tips. oof, maybe I am wrong, round tail for the Piper. All the ag wagon and cessnas seem to have a square rudder and fin profile. I watched the clip, I can kind of see why he didn’t put his nose down to regain airspeed, he didn’t have the altitude,...but even then stick forward may have been more survivablebthat that hellacious 200’ free fall. I couldn’t tell if he was over buildings or not before gaining the street, |
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RIP to the poor pilot. Patiently awaiting blancolirio’s video on the incident.
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Quoted: Don't know about the left coast, but the banner planes flying up and down the beach on the right coast are usually clapped out, stripped down lawnmowers with wings that barely get off the deck under their own power. Always thought those pilots were suicidal. View Quote They're all old duffer planes that can barely handle the excess drag caused by the banner. One guy crashed his old whale-tail Stearman while pulling a banner several years ago near me. He wasn't injured, and the plane has been repaired. |
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My brother in law is a pilot for Delta now, but 20 years ago he was flying anything with wings to get his hours. I remember going to one of his parties with a bunch of other guys under similar aspirations. One of the guys flew banners out at Kitty Hawk. He explained the Cessna he was flying had some hot-rod engine but it would still have to take off without the banner and then go around at full throttle and use something like an arresting hook to snag the banner and peel it off the ground. He said even with the extra horsepower it always felt like it was on the verge of a stall.
One day he hooks the banner lead, which was held up off the ground so the plane could hook it without the wheels touching, and the next thing he knows the plane bounces on the ground doing a high speed roll out. As he tried to figure out what happened, he looked back and realized the back half of the entire airplane had ripped away taking the horizontal and vertical stabilizer with it. It’s been a while since I heard the story first-hand but it seems like he quit towing banners after that and instead started flying sightseeing tours. Last I heard he was flying with an airline out of Alaska. |
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Should have cut that banner loose far earlier than the video even starts.
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it's Dangerous when Airplane wings failed. it's cracked after spraying |
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Quoted: My brother in law is a pilot for Delta now, but 20 years ago he was flying anything with wings to get his hours. I remember going to one of his parties with a bunch of other guys under similar aspirations. One of the guys flew banners out at Kitty Hawk. He explained the Cessna he was flying had some hot-rod engine but it would still have to take off without the banner and then go around at full throttle and use something like an arresting hook to snag the banner and peel it off the ground. He said even with the extra horsepower it always felt like it was on the verge of a stall. One day he hooks the banner lead, which was held up off the ground so the plane could hook it without the wheels touching, and the next thing he knows the plane bounces on the ground doing a high speed roll out. As he tried to figure out what happened, he looked back and realized the back half of the entire airplane had ripped away taking the horizontal and vertical stabilizer with it. It’s been a while since I heard the story first-hand but it seems like he quit towing banners after that and instead started flying sightseeing tours. Last I heard he was flying with an airline out of Alaska. View Quote Yikes |
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Today I learned that banner advertising was still a thing. Thought it had mostly died out except for the occasional political sign.
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Quoted: I knew more than one banner tow guys who died on the job. Along with being an instructor, flying skydive planes, and back in my day flying night cargo the least experienced pilots have the most dangerous and worst paying jobs. Not sure how I survived flying bank checks and piss around in shit weather with shit airplanes at 3am for $1200/mo. View Quote Ram Air out of Raleigh by chance? |
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