Early Analysis: Piper PA-25 Banner Tow Crash May 17, 2023 Hollywood, FL 

Can’t blame the pilot for inexperience, but I’ll commend his bravery for being unwilling to risk innocent lives, that is how he should be remembered.

My dear friend Mitchell Allen Knaus died in this accident. He was living at my house, we went jogging together that morning. Terribly sad.

This is the first time I have learned anything about "Banner Towing Flight" since I started flying lessons in 1965. It is a fabulous video and is particularly well-presented information by Alicia Herron. Thank you sooo much.

Well i am a Bannertowing Pilot in Germany for more than 20 years. To analyse the acident you neet to know tha the stallspeed with a banner on the hookt is less tha the stallspeep without. So you can fly below the stallspee with the banner. But in the moment you cut the banner, as you can see in the video, the plan got his nomanl stallspeed back. Even so close to the ground towing a banner you need to pitch the nose down to gain speed before citing the banner. In my toughts i am with the family an friend of the pilot.

Wow, this has got to be the best early analysis video I’ve seen from you guys. Alicia did a great job explaining the inside of banner towing operations. I’m a 1000 hours Cfi, and having flown a lot of airplanes I had no idea how challenging it is to fly these banners around. In my opinion, this young pilot is a hero for even considering the people on the ground when he knew his life was in severe danger. What a tragic accident my condolences to the family, and everyone affected a clear sign that the training provided by the operator was not sufficient and should be addressed.

This was the most engaging of these intelligent and detailed ASI reports. You could *feel* the situation and appreciate the challenges the pilot faced.

Sound like this guy would have had a chance had he released it earlier, but by trying to find the best place for the people on the ground, gave his life for it. That’s kinda heroic.

This young lady is knowledgeable, eloquent, and certainly one of the best possible resources for this discussion. I would be privileged to have her as a crew member.

This is really sad. I'm sure he was very excited to get what might have been one of his first commercial pilot jobs and looking forward to a long career.

Hands down the most useful and intelligent analysis of this tragic event. I've been a private pilot since 1968, but never had any exposure to banner flying. Ms. Herron did an outstanding job of explaining the art of banner towing.

Inexperience was the key problem that caused this accident. I have towed banners for many years and while there is a lot going on right after you pick the banner, flying the plane at the correct speed is key. The pilot held the nose too high which kept the plane in a stall. Because he was constantly in a stall, he was unable to gain any altitude. When the pilot realized he was not climbing, he should have remained or returned to the banner area, and dropped the banner if need be. The tower routinely allows you to climb in the ‘banner box’ pattern with no disruption to other air traffic at the airport. When the pilot finally did release the banner while the airplane was stalled, the release of energy and his foot on the rudder put the airplane into a spin. At 400 ft, there was insufficient altitude to recover. It is easy to blame it on pilot error. In reality banner flying is complicated and difficult. There was no engine trouble. The pilot had a semi-heavy banner and he did not realize that the climbing process is sometimes very slow. Trying to force the nose of the plane up has a detrimental climbing effect as the plane flounders in and out of a stall. Incredibly sad for everyone involved with this accident.

My take from this is that this pilot was someone who, in an emergency situation, made the choice to prioritise the lives of others over themself. That's the true measure of someone, and I really wish with all my heart it didn't have the result it did for them.

With my banner tow experience, the banner actually holds the tail of the aircraft up and allowed the aircraft to fly below stall speed. So it makes sense to me that the only thing keeping this aircraft from stall spinning was the banner.

That lady is remarkable with her experience in banner flying I knew it was dangerous but learned a lot from her

He just wanted hours to get a better job 😢 may he rest in peace

It really does appear the plane was already stalled and the banner was stabilizing it. The immediate entry into a spin is hard to ignore.

It was great to hear from Alicia about how the banner towing is so different from regular flying with her experience.

I had no idea banner flying was so dangerous. very informative video

I lost a dear friend to banner towing. Deceptively dangerous endeavor in my opinion.

Its never enough! When I was a kid banners were 1 line. One line and it was a short sentence. Very easy for the plane to tow it. But no thats not enough! Now they got a fricken 4 high paragraph. Greed killed that kid.

Excellent interview. RIP to the pilot

Thank you for this analysis. I had no idea how close to the edge banner tows operate. Alicia, thanks for sharing your insights in such a difficult interview.

So helpful to have an experienced banner-towing pilot like Alicia contributing her insights. Great job, guys.

Very interesting. I had no idea how difficult towing banners was. So sad for the pilot and his family.

Great perspective from Alicia and I appreciate her insight of the banner pilot's world. I'm wondering how much time this company, and other banner towing Ops spend on incipient stall training specific to the aircraft they operate. Like Alicia said, flying so low and slow, at high angle of attack, and being task saturated, you have precious fee seconds to react. Based on the video, I'd bet the accident pilot used full left aileron to counteract the right wing dip, which then initiated the immediate snap roll to the left. Stick full forward and left rudder would have to be instantaneous given his low speed and altitude. It's a terrible loss, and he was obviously doing everything he knew in order to prevent injuries on the ground, and that shows what type of young man he was.

Brilliant video. I can’t understand the obsession in the US with these banners. Looks like a totally dangerous exercise.

RIP Mr. Knaus... really good interview, Mr. Richard... Lots of interesting info in there, Alicia. Thank-you....

My cousin died during a pick gone bad. As I understand it he did an end over flip as he tried to climb. He had lots of experience dragging banners along the beach. He one time told me he got a job spraying crops. He said he made one run, the quit. I remember him saying "That type of flying was insanely dangerous." He was a great guy.

Lucid explanation. Thank you so much from Amsterdam.

I’m so saddened by the loss of this young person. I’ve read such good things about him from those who knew and / or flew with him.

Very clear discussion on the challenges and limitations of commercial banner towing. Ms. Herrin did an excellent job of clarifying the challenges and pitfalls in a manner that non-pilots can understand. Excellent reporting that one can learn from even without towing a huge drag maker a couple of knots above stall.

I have something like 200 hours banner towing, I was trained at the place where this aircraft came from in Hollywood, FL., and I'll say something here that I've noticed a lot in the videos of people picking up banners -- I never ONCE, ever, made an approach as steep, or a climb as steep, or a pull up as drastic as the videos all seem to show. If your aircraft is set up correctly for the size of banner you are towing, there is no need for an airshow, daredevil performance for the camera and "LIKES" that you see even in the short clip shown at the beginning of this clip. They are doing it wrong. By making the drastic transition from the dive to the climb, you actually lose more airspeed than you would in a more gentle maneuver. You are doing it wrong. It is a dangerous maneuver, and it does take practice, and it does look pretty cool, but it doesn't have to be like a lot of the crazy videos I've seen on RU-vid. Dropping a banner in an emergency is something that has to be done. Yes, you want to find a good spot, but in reality, you are very unlikely to hurt or kill someone with the banner and rope. I flew almost exclusively over populated areas, and it would have sucked, but it's just something that must be done to save your life and to allow you to get the plane itself down without killing someone on the ground. Most people would rather have one of those come down on them than a plane... if given the choice. This next part is hard to describe: I think I kind of know the aerodynamics of what is happening here, but I won't try. However, under certain circumstances, there were times when with the exact power settings, the right atmospherics, the right speed, and angle of attack, the aircraft/banner combination would essentially become something I can only describe as a very stable, slow-motion, falling leaf. You don't get a stall indication, you don't get buffeting, it is a gentle, float to the ground as if you are on a parachute. It is the type of situation someone could be in without knowing it if you don't pay attention to the instruments. The only way out of it (and I practiced) is full power and clean configuration. If he had power loss, he could only drop the banner AFTER first pitching down to assure the AoA before the banner came free. This is where the experience comes in, because it is unlike any other stall or flight envelope you can encounter in a Cessna or Pawnee or Cub. When he released the banner, he instantly went from the odd, somehow-staying-in-the-air-while-below-stall-speed configuration that only the banner can give you, to a post stall AoA, and subsequent spin. I'm sorry for the loss. It seems like he fought it to the end.

Thoughtful video and thoughtful comments. There’s a reason Alicia is in communications. I believe the comments saying a banner can reduce the stall speed are wrong. There’s no aerodynamic reason for that. With the tow cable attached to the floor below the thrust line, the drag of the banner would tend to pull the nose down requiring the pilot to hold up elevator to compensate. Releasing the banner would cause an immediate pitch up unless the pilot reduced back pressure simultaneously. With the plane already flying so close to critical angle of attack (stall speed), the result would be an immediate stall. If you watch the video frame by frame, the tail does appear to drop (pitch up) immediately before the plane rolls right. With so much stress, workload and inexperience, most of us would likely have made the same mistake. I feel terrible for that young pilot.

Great channel and analysis. Condolences to the family and friends of the pilot.

That was a great discussion on this incident. R.i.p. to the pilot.

Talked about this with the fatal Bonanza 180 turn back at HWO awhile back. There is no where to land after takeoff at HWO until you’re about 1000agl. To the East have to glide to the highway. To the West you only have very small golf courses (expect to hit a tree), or pick a retention pond. Don’t aim for streets, too many palm trees and power lines (Seneca fatal accident a few years ago).

Interesting hook system on the Cub in your video. 30 years ago we used a Gasser hitch on the tail and a steel cable which dropped with each banner. Had to land and rehook each time. Also it appeared the Cub dove down to the pickup. We always approached it level.

Thank you for such a thoughtful, respectful, detailed and insightful analysis of this crash. Will be interested to find out more details as the investigation goes on. Your videos are so helpful and only work to promote aviation safety. Thank you for all that you do.

The video of the crash says it all. Just before banner release, the plane's wings are rocking, consistent with the plane operating just above its stall speed. Notice that at the instant the banner is released, the plane yaws sharply RIGHT, and then the right wing drops. This may be explained like this: the banner -- with its considerable drag -- acts as a powerful "yaw damper", keeping the nose straight by largely over-riding any actual rudder forces. When the banner is released, that damping force is instantly gone, allowing any rudder input to suddenly affect the aircraft. In this case -- and at the edge of the stall -- existing right rudder input would cause a sudden right yaw with immediate right wing stall as seen in the video. This accident is tragic, especially since it may have been prevented with proper training for this novice banner pilot. An emergency banner drop is not the same as a routine one, and this might represent a gap in typical banner ops training. RIP; he tried so hard to do the right thing and protect innocent lives.

Excellent video as usual. Alicia did a great job explaining the intricacies and dangers of banner towing. I knew that it was risky, but had no idea that you had to fly on the edge of the planes performance envelope.

Fantastic discussion under incredibly sad circumstances. Thank you

Excellent analysis and explanation by Alicia Herron and Richard McSpadden.

Colonel McSpadden, Thank you for this and your expertise. A terrible tragedy. Paul (in MA)

As an eyewitness to this incident I can confirm that the engine did not sound as if it malfunctioned. I grew up less then a mile from this airport and have heard these planes overhead daily since I was a child. The only real difference in sound this plane had was that it was very very low when I heard it and sounded like it was moving much slower than they traditionally fly. I saw it right after as it dropped the banner when it’s left wing dipped.

If the pilot was flying close to the critical angle of attack and the banner attachment point is below the horizontal line passing through the COG of the aircraft then when the banner is released the aircraft will immediately pitch up and stall -unless the pilot pitches down as he releases... The banner acts as a lever trying to pitch the nose down.

Couple years ago a young guy got the banner caught on a high rise condominium balcony. For anyone who’s not familiar with North Perry Airport and Hollywood beach , it’s a densely populated, extremely challenging, and unforgiving environment for banner towing operations

Great report Richard. Thankyou. So sad 😢

I have always been curious about banner flying. This confirmed some of my concerns and added more. I'm sorry it was these circumstances that brought my learning. I live in a very warm part of the country, dense urban, too. I have wondered about the hazards of flying banners especially because they are flown for freeway drivers, who have no business looking anywhere but the road. Beach flying makes a lot of sense though. May his friends and family find peace and consolation during their grief.

From what I've gleaned from this, it seems to me that banner towing is a disaster waiting to happen by design. If someone told me to fly a load that put me with a few knots of stall, I'd tell them what they could do with it in no uncertain terms.

The 7 miles that it took from North Perry to the beach always made me pucker up a little bit. Flying over dense population with not many options made me always ready for an engine out. If worse came to worse the first thing I’d do is drop the banner and explain myself later. Thank god that never happened to me. If heard stories of Pawnees having a very bad climb rate after the pick and not getting to the 1300ft. until outside of the delta. I’ve never flown the Pawnee but in my opinion I don’t thing it’s the best plane to tow in. Sure it has the power but the climb performance with a banner isn’t the greatest. In the super cub I flew there were rarely times where I’d be concerned about my safety. And I usually would climb in the “banner box” and then depart the airport at the 1300ft. Wind plays a big role in determining how the climb out would be. This was a tragedy and shouldn’t have happened. In training companies preach that dropping the banner is the last option and look for a suitable place to drop if it gets to that but in my opinion it would be best to drop it and deal with the consequences later. This is just my opinion coming from a guy that worked ground crew and towed banners at North Perry

Very interesting. Thank you for both of y'alls insight.

Under high power he's going to have a lot of right rudder to counter the torque, with that load removed you're going to have extra right rudder which would explain the jerk to the right.

Good day, I worked at AB and they use 6 cylinder PA-25’s so the engine should have much more performance than what your interviewer talks about. I’m not going to sideline on this forum but it’s a very sad accident. This is the danger we all face in our first flying job (inexperience).

Thank you for this. My heart goes out to this brave pilot and their family. They were thinking of people on the ground as any pilot would. Hope they find out what happened.

Always so impressed by your tone and analysis. Great job Alicia too

Thank you for making the best of this tragedy by giving myself and other pilots the opportunity to learn.

Thank you for this video, you both hit all points for clarification and learning. Very sad story my condolences to the family 🙁

Excellent video, I particularly liked the expert explanation of banner towing techniques and the video demonstrating picking up the banner with the "tailhook" that in operation resembled a Navy aircraft carrier landing. McSpadden asked the right questions to draw the expert out in developing the tactics of the pick and drop. I had no idea it was so complex nor that it was necessary to get so close to a stall and stay in what we practice in training as "slow flight" throughout the whole flight. I wonder if the release of the banner might have triggered the disaster in a way because until that point, its drag was keeping the airplane aligned with the relative wind, preventing a spin. Had the pilot just held attitude, maybe the plane might have just mushed and hit the ground at a survivable descent rate? I don't think there was enough altitude for the dive to gain speed described by the expert. She was superb, very clear but succinct explanations. Next time I see a banner tow operation I'll have more respect for the pilot.

So I graduated from Broward College Aviation Program there at North Perry and it was absolutely incredible to see these guys pick banners. Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned a lot is this is a banner tow training “schoolhouse” and I am surprised it doesn’t happen more, which says the training fbo is a good outfit. I know one hit a BK a long time ago.

This was very informative. Thank you for covering this tragedy. My heart goes out to Mitch's family and friends. 🙏

Do these banners really work? I would like to see some statistics, how much revenue it can bring for the cost.

An excellent discussion. Subscribed.

I've always wondered (but never bothered to find out) how the plane takes off with the banner. The pick up is not what i expected.

Great video thanks - had no idea that banner flying was so complicated and ye explained it very well. RIP to the pilot.

She was super helpful

Banner towing is something that I’m looking at doing once I get my commercial ticket. Thank you for the valuable information!

Thanks for that excellent interview. I learned from it.

My first flying job was as a banner pilot for Arial Sign Company from North Perry. They told me not to release your banner unless you’re over the airport since the 10lb grappling hook used to pick up banner can kill somebody. I had a similar incident where a banner larger than my Citabria can pull, was placed for me to pick up. I got to 150feet and couldn’t climb much higher. I nursed plane around to airport and dropped the banner. Their training needs to change to pull banner immediately but this will greatly increase risk of those in the ground.

So sad. Great insights.

The thought of banner towing always scared me. You're basically flying with a drag chute deployed, in a plane that is slow to begin with.

I had no idea that banner towing is this complicated. The guy is a hero in my eyes for looking out for the people on the ground. BTW: does anybody know how much these banners weigh? It was mentioned that these weigh a lot, but having never been close to these, I have no idea. Thanks

Great analysis. Thanks.

I really appreciate the explanation from the young woman in this video. Inexperienced pilot made a major mistake by attempting a banner drop with the nose high angle of attack instead of nose down dive before the release. My condolences to the family and friends of this pilot.

This is fantastic information. I never knew so much was involved in banner flying, but it makes total sense. God rest his soul. Glad noone else was hurt or killed.

I almost wonder if this pilot was looking back for the perfect drop zone for the banner, momentarily and unconsciously puts the slightest amount of back pressure on the yoke, and exceeds the critical angle of attack. I truly believe he was doing everything in his power to avoid harming anyone, how tragic! I also wanted to thank AOPA for another informative and respectful discussion on what was another very tragic GA accident.

So informative. Awesome content. Happened in my neighborhood. Answered so many questions. God bless this pilot. My condolences to the aviation community. Thanks again.

Part of me wonders if he’d of had a better chance of surviving by choosing not to cut the banner… EDIT - I commented the above before finishing the video. It turns out they cover this exact topic/thinking at 14:08

Excellent explanation of the process.

Here's an idea....How about not taking off with banners over highly populated areas?! I thought that the idea that he might have already been stalled and the banner was providing stability was interesting, and makes sense. I wonder if he might have been able to set it down with the banner (as discussed earlier), if he had an open space? I've never been influenced by a banner in my life. I don't understand how they still use them in 2023. Remember the searchlights that they used to shine around in the sky for a premier or grand opening? If you do, you're pretty old! Banners seem about as effective to me. Excellent video though!

Thanks for the informed analysis ( and informed comments) of this tragedy. My suggestion (based on no flying experience) would be for pilots to gain training and experience in a more remote location. Perhaps practicing safely dropping the banner in emergencies (from a higher altitude). Knowing how the plane reacts, and what needs to be done to recover should be part of the qualification for doing this.

Being in south NJ, I have seen many banner tows along the jersey coast line, some seem like they were struggling and they were flying Cessnas and Pipers, likely crosswinds

Clearly banner towing is the antithesis to the aviation safety culture. Why it is allowed is illogical.

an eyewitness video on the ground zooms at the cockpit and you can see the poor dude leaning to his left side with his left arm still on the throttle. poor dude i wonder if he didn't released the banner cause he was afraid to get fired. i know i would...

Where I was just a young pup, I flew right seat with a RonJon surf shop banner over Cocoa Beach. Thanks for the flight time, Mr. Hennessey! RIP, boss man.

Very well articulated.

One must question if Banner Towing is worth the risk.

Great video

So true, "like all flying we do, our ego is attached".

Tons of insight from Alicia. I learned a lot listening to her share her experience, great job.

i fly for aeiral banners currently and he didnt miss a pick... we do a seperate pass for hook deployment.

I don’t understand something: if you are to release the banner when it is above your tail, is the hook and it’s rope not tangling with the tail? Or is it a sideways downward half spiral type maneuver?

Wow this is such a sad story! I interviewed at that company together with 4 more new kids about 2 months ago, I never heard back so I guess perhaps I didn’t make the cut, although they said we were going to be added one at a time, I hope is not someone from that group, they were all very very young aviators, so horrible to finally get a job that can bring your career dream to reality, just to end in this way. God bless his soul and family!

I learned a lot from this video's discussion, and the clips showing how banner pickups and drops are done. One thing I didn't know is that the attach point is pretty close to the CG of the aircraft - makes sense, but I (wrongly) thought it was attached to the tail, like on a glider tow plane. Thanks for doing this video, and bringing in an expert to add analysis. Well done.

Great points here made by both. However i dissagree about her point on the power curve. It is possible to get behind the power curve in almost any airplane, underpowered or overpowered... unless it has a 1:1 power to weight ratio ofc. Condolence to Mitch's Family. Rip brotha

I towed banners in the 80's but I never towed a banner that would have been a hazard to people o the ground if I had to drop it. My procedure was to drop the banned at the first hint that the aircraft would not fly with the banner attached.

Poor guy. RIP young man.😢

RIP to a young pilot, trying to gain experience and hours😢

Such a shame. My condolences to the young aviator's family and friends.

in comments section to the Blancolirio video on this topic, a few interesting points were raised: 1. whilst not very windy, the sea air was reported rough over the town, with low clouds and mist flow suggesting possible convective activity off final. 2. a few (claimed)pilots with (claimed) experience of this day/location, noted the heat & high-humidity effected the performance of their engines more than they expected. 3. the banner was reported as being bigger and heavier than the ones carried before by that team *rumors hold it a few members raised concern over whether the aircraft was capable of safely operating with such a load/drag this is all RU-vid, so I am not sure the comments can be validated, but it would be interesting if any of these points will appear in the NTSB report

Alicia did great. I've seen two other youtube videos on this. Her knowledge answered most of the speculations they had on the other videos. You guys work great together. Sad story, but there is much to learn here.