Stall / Spin · NTSB ERA22FA243
PIPER PA-12 — North Myrtle Beach, SC
| Date | May 28, 2022 |
| Location | North Myrtle Beach, SC |
| Aircraft | PIPER PA-12 |
| Purpose of flight | Banner Tow |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Maneuvering Aerodynamic stall/spin |
| Pilot age | 56 |
| Pilot total time | 15,200 hrs · High time |
| Time in type | 15,200 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Attain/maintain not possible
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
What happened
The pilot of the banner tow airplane made a low approach to pick up a banner. Witnesses reported that after the tow rope was picked up, the airplane pitched up and maintained a steep angle of attack until it entered an aerodynamic stall and made a near vertical descent to impact. The airplane came to rest in a nose-down, near-vertical position about 300 ft from the banner pick up zone. A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Toxicology testing detected a low level of ethanol in the pilot’s liver tissue. Some or all of the small amount of detected ethanol may have been from postmortem production. It is unlikely that ethanol effects contributed to the accident. It is likely that after the banner pickup and during initial climb, while the airplane had a high-power setting, high pitch angle, and low airspeed, the pilot exceeded the airplane’s critical angle of attack, and the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall from which recovery was not possible due to the airplane's low altitude.