Accident at Teuge (NL) June 2, 2011

[vanHorck]

A single engine banner towing plane crashed on take off at Teuge airport today around 3pm local time, one occupant, one seriously injured.

According to bystanders something went wrong during a banner pick-up, so not a take off

Teuge Airport was closed after the incident

[vanHorck]

The pilot who was 28 and who was a skilled banner plane pilot has died.

It is now confirmed the plane crashed during a failed attempt to pick up a banner.

[Sir George Cayley]

25 years ago a good friend of mine died during a banner pick up. He was flying a Rallye 180GT when the hook hit the ground and bounced up round the all flying stabiliser.

On snatching the banner and pulling up whilst applying power, the loop of cable tightened and forced the tailplane to pitch the a/c nose down.

In no way does this imply the cause of the accident in the OP but it sparked a sad memory for me.:(

Sir George Cayley

[vanHorck]

Good friends deserve to be remembered, even after 25 years, especially when they died doing what they loved.

Your friend had a good friend Sir GC

:)

[AIRADS]

This tragic accident illustrates how difficult this kind of work can be and how narrow the margin is for pilot error or quickly unfavourable wind conditions can quickly lead towards the 'incident pit.'

Very few pilots and most certainly not the general public recognise that one simply doesn't strap on an aircraft and pick-up a banner, which is why only a handful of pilots actually do the job here in the UK and about the same in Europe.

You have to be very sensitive indeed to crosswinds and in the summer, turbulence close to the ground on the pick-up where it's most likely to go horribly wrong. You have to be absolutely stable in the last few seconds and then nail the right airspeed on the way out or events can catch up with you very quickly.

Here's a video I did earlier which shows people how quickly it all happens!

Fly safe and if it doesn't look right then it probably isn't!


YouTube - ‪Radio One - Plane Banners at the Big Weekend' - Airads & Gatecrasher.com‬‏ (http://youtu.be/jdhGpmDTO7M)