Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Egg Harbor, New Jersey 08221
Sunday, September 3, 1995 12:07 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane approached the field, for the first banner pick up of the day, with no indications of difficulty. The pilot made contact with the pick-up loop, entered a climb, followed by a push over at approximately 200 feet AGL. The airplane lost some altitude and regained forward speed. The pilot released the banner, and the airplane began to pitch upward, followed by a continually increasing bank/roll to the right. The airplane rolled to a full 90 degrees, until it impacted with a tree. A witness stated, 'the aircraft's engine noise sounded normal...I then heard him pull the power...very shortly after I heard the sound of impact....' At the time of the accident, the pilot had approximately 500 hours total flight time, and 60 hours in this make and model airplane. The pilot was employed by the operator about two months earlier and he had approximately 40 hours flight time in banner towing operations. The pilot next to pick up a banner stated that the winds were 'light' out of the north and there was 'no turbulence.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the pilot to maintain adequate airspeed during pull-up from a banner pickup, which resulted in a stall and collision with trees before recovering from the stall.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/3/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1207 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | EGG HARBOR |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 08221 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1793 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 3 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1240 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9374D |
| NTSB Number | NYC95FA212 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-18A-150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-18A-150 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18-6639 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 125 |
| Airframe Hours | 9158 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BILL LAUGHLIN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 41 PALMEROY RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | MADISION |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07940 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | SCOTT HIGGINS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | POB 2052 |
| Operator City | OCEAN CITY |
| Operator State | NJ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 08226 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 26N |
| Departure City | OCEAN CITY |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1200 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 22 2001 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |