NTSB Factual Report

On May 1, 2013, about 1030 central daylight time, a Cessna 172M airplane, N8899V, descended and impacted terrain following a banner towing maneuver at the St. Tammany Regional Airport (L31), near Covington, Louisiana. The pilot who was the sole occupant sustained minor injuries. The airplane sustained substantial fuselage damage. The airplane was owned and operated by Northshore Group LLC under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a banner towing flight. Day visual flight rules (VFR) conditions prevailed for the flight, which did not operate on a VFR flight rules flight plan. The local flight originated from L31.

The pilot stated that he had an accident on April 28, 2013, when he was flying a 170-horsepower Cessna 172N. The pilot reported that an inspector from the Baton Rouge Flight Standards District Office made an appointment with the operator and with him to review the banner towing operation and to demonstrate a pickup of the same banner and equipment that was used on April 28. Since the 170-horsepower airplane incurred substantial damage, it was agreed upon that the demonstration would be executed in N8899V, a 150-horsepower Cessna 172M. The pilot advised that most of his training had been it the 170-horsepower airplane and that he had only pulled one banner with N8899V. The pilot preflighted the airplane and found no anomalies including the stall horn. He flew a closed traffic pattern at L31 for the banner pickup on the east parallel. The pilot confirmed that he had caught the pickup rope on the first pass. He said that he "felt the tail weight down during my pull up" and he started to nose the airplane over to maintain air speed. The pilot reported that the airplane started a stall/spin to the left without any buffeting or stall horn sounding. He indicated that his window was open and he may not have heard the stall horn. The pilot attempted a recovery with "full forward elevator controls" and the airplane subsequently "landed pretty hard."

The stall horn was checked after the accident and it was operational.

At 0953, the recorded weather at the Slidell Airport, near Slidell, Louisiana, was: Wind 140 at 5 knots; visibility 10 statute miles; sky condition broken clouds at 1,600 feet, broken clouds at 2,300 feet, overcast clouds at 6,000 feet; temperature 24 degrees C; dew point 21 degrees C; altimeter 29.90 inches of mercury.

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed during a banner towing operation, which resulted in the airplane stalling and landing hard.