Banner tow operations

[skyking1]

I did a search and saw some very old threads, so it seems a new thread is in order.
I have a few hundred hours towing banners in the US, using a C175 with 180 HP constant speed from the early Mooney, and sportsman STOL cuff and tips.
The business is long gone, but i found one lonely and shredded 7' "K" letter in the back of the hangar and it brought back some fond memories.
Anyone have some stories to share? Questions?

[noneya]

I towed for years using Aviat Huskys!

We towed off a barge that was anchored in Tampa Bay! Those days were a lot of fun!

[skyking1]

That sounds like a blast, carrier deck ops :)
Did you base the plane on the beach and pickup/drop at the barge?
We also had a 170, and hired a 150/150 on big days. Both the 170 and 175 had 3 hooks on them so we could stay out for three signs before reloading the hooks.

[noneya]

We bases the 3 planes at the local airport near by.

We carried 3 hooks on the struts and picked up and dropped off on the barge. The barge was 8 ft long and 4ft wide. We had a rack system on the barge to hold the banners and billboards for pick up. On drop off the dropped the rope on the barge and the crew pulled it in from the water.

It was always sporty on windy and choppy days. The poles were only about 3 feet apart.

I wish I could have those days back, it was so much fun!

[skyking1]

We pulled a lot of 20' x 50' billboards. I had one 80 hour contract with MCI that I would fly in 4 hour legs over the summer. That was time in the air and it was always a fun thing to plan winds to get back to base right on time. When you are indicating 50 MPH, winds come into play quite a bit more with planning :)
The biggest sign was from Schucks Auto supply and measured 30' x 120'.
That one would often leave you at VSI -50 FPM shortly after pickup, so the climb procedure was roll into a 45 degree left turn and climb spiraling up.

[deefer dog]

Yeah, great fun banner towing years ago. Dragging Gasser 5 and 7 foot letters around mostly with messages far to long to be legal and only managed to get up due to the curvature of the earth.

Flew one of the first billboard banners in the UK which had been bought from some mickey mouse company in US at a ridiculously low price. It was delivered late and arrived on the day of the job. When unpacking it we discovered that the paint on it was still wet! When unfolded it looked a complete mess, but we flew it anyway. Damn thing was so heavy the airplane couldn't climb to more than 500 feet.

We didn't have special hooks for the grapples so used to throw the hook out after take off. One guy's aim wasn't so good and unknown to him the cable wrapped itself around the tailwheel of the cub. When he grabbed the banner and the rope went tight the rudder snapped hard over and just stayed there. That was an interesting low level circuit to watch, all at about 50 feet with the banner dragging over the ground and while he landed because he couldn't release it!

Had loads of pilots dropping banners all over the place for all sorts of stupid reasons, some dragging them over roads while on approach, letters breaking up in mid air due to being worn out, and it was a miracle that we didn't get closed down by the CAA who seemed to be under the impression that we were actually approved to do any of this stuff!!

Had a set of those poles that you lift away with the rope for away from base tows....great invention.

All in cubs, but once in an Islander. All great fun!

[skyking1]

we had pole bases of lumber that folded up, a piece of conduit with a red golf cart flag, and an old fashioned duck bill clothes pin taped to it with friction tape. I flew out several times to remote locations and set up off in the grass or dirt, pick it, drop it, land and fold it all back up, and head back home.
I had one main gear hookup that was bad. Pulling on the plane there yielded a lot of drag for the size of sign. Made that low circuit you speak of, and landed sign and all on the grass. It was a short roll :)
Our big show was college football games. We would get 15 signs around the stadium by 3rd quarter. had 6 people on the ground and 3 planes.

[CEQforever]

In the South of France there are still 2 companies holding on to this 'end of an era' type flying from the analogue age with old Socata Rallye 180T's . Air Nice and Action Communication.

As always the French CAA is the biggest hurdle to this type of flying. (...plus advertising on the Internet:*)

[skyking1]

I wonder how they handle the hooks, can you fly with canopy open in those?

[Booglebox]

A few years ago in East Anglia I worked for a small company that did banner towing with a Super Cub, amongst other things. Once we towed a "will you marry me" banner in formation with one of our pax-carrying twins, which was carrying a soon-to-be-engaged couple that had just flown the scenic route over London on a glorious summer morning. Champagne for all (except pilots) on landing :cool:

[skyking1]

Nice! my boss claimed he had proposed to a thousand women and had not been turned down :D
I flew several proposals at the Space Needle in downtown Seattle, on the waterfront, to people on sailboats in Lake Washington. We had a black balloons graphic to go with 7' letters for 40th and 50th birthdays.
The best graphic we had was a 7' high pot leaf on a white background, to advertise http://www.hempfest.org/
When they could remember to call us ( :D ) they would order up about 6 hours of advertising in the week prior.
I was S-turning along the interstate. Boeing Field was very helpful and would flop the pattern so I could have the downwind to stay over the freeway. They spied the big pot leaf and must have called Seatac on the land line about it.
When they handed me off to Seatac, the controller asked me how I felt about flying around a big pot leaf.
I replied with my personal boilerplate language "the copy on the signs does not reflect the opinion of the company or flight crew " :)

[JammedStab]

Only did a few banner tows in a C172. Would takeoff with hook held in left hand with right hand for throttle and controls. Of course with near full power always required, just tighten the throttle friction and leave it that way for takeoff. Then drop the hook. Oil temp would sit on the redline.

Flew over a flea market advertising for a nearby store, so the flea market owner called the feds to try to get me a violation. Was able to talk my way out of the investigation.

By coincidence I was visiting an airport out here in California today that had a big hangar owned by a large banner tow company with planes across America. They have super Cubs. One of them has a 6 cylinder engine. The Cubs have extended wings and vortex generators along not only the leading edge but also just in front of the ailerons. Plus some small wing fences.

[skyking1]

The 170 and 175 had a leather wrapped grab handle right by the window for the tow hook. We had two more hooks out on the left wing. One was in the tiedown loop and one on a mid strut loop. Both of those had a cotton rope that was tied to the hook, then fed in through the open window and tied to that handle with a releasing knot. We had three glider hooks and release handles.
You did things in the right order or you got foul hooked!