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A PA25 pilot described a hard landing with aircraft damage after he lost aircraft control while distracted by CTAF traffic as he attempted to release the banner he was towing.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 964269 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201108 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | PA-25 Pawnee |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 10500 Flight Crew Type 1200 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control |
Narrative:
After a four hour banner tow flight; I was returning to my home base for landing. There was a P-51 in the pattern and there was a waco towing gliders and several gliders in the air around the airport. My intentions were to land after the banner drop. I had 1 notch of flaps during approach. I leveled off at 120 ft with 1;500 RPM as I pulled the release handle and at the same time I felt the banner contacting the ground. My response was to try to pull all three release handles; the left handle slipped threw my hand. I applied full power; but the plane descended at a high rate. It hit the runway; broke the hydrosorbes and the prop hit the dirt. After securing the airplane; I went to the rear of the plane; the center and the right releases were open; the left one was partially open but not deployed. There were no mechanical defects with the plane. The accident I attribute to being distracted by traffic and not sticking to normal banner drop phase of flight. Removing the plane off the runway we were towing it backward and the right flap got damaged after the accident. I put the airplane back on its wheels and put on the tie down and removed the engine to get a head start on the prop strike inspection before calling the authorities. My assessment was this is an incident not an accident.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A PA25 pilot described a hard landing with aircraft damage after he lost aircraft control while distracted by CTAF traffic as he attempted to release the banner he was towing.
Narrative: After a four hour banner tow flight; I was returning to my home base for landing. There was a P-51 in the pattern and there was a Waco towing gliders and several gliders in the air around the airport. My intentions were to land after the banner drop. I had 1 notch of flaps during approach. I leveled off at 120 FT with 1;500 RPM as I pulled the release handle and at the same time I felt the banner contacting the ground. My response was to try to pull all three release handles; the left handle slipped threw my hand. I applied full power; but the plane descended at a high rate. It hit the runway; broke the hydrosorbes and the prop hit the dirt. After securing the airplane; I went to the rear of the plane; the center and the right releases were open; the left one was partially open but not deployed. There were no mechanical defects with the plane. The accident I attribute to being distracted by traffic and not sticking to normal banner drop phase of flight. Removing the plane off the runway we were towing it backward and the right flap got damaged after the accident. I put the airplane back on its wheels and put on the tie down and removed the engine to get a head start on the prop strike inspection before calling the authorities. My assessment was this is an incident not an accident.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.