Piper PA-18 N1211A

Summary

On 26 May 1985 at about 16:26 local time, a Piper PA-18 registered N1211A, operated by Advertising Air Force, was involved in an accident near St.petersburg, Florida, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

26 May 1985 at 16:26

Classification

Accident

Location

St.petersburg, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Albert Whitted (SPG)

Coordinates

27.7495, -82.6401

Aircraft

Piper PA-18

Registration

N1211A

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Advertising Air Force

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA85LA177

1 person had minor injuries.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE PILOT WAS ASSIGNED AN AIRCRAFT WITH A RECENTLY OVERHAULED ENGINE TO TOW A BANNER. HE PREFLIGHTED, STARTED AND RAN-UP THE ENGINE 3 TIMES. EACH TIME THE ENGINE RAN ROUGH AND LOST RPM ON MAGNETO CHECKS. AFTER EACH OCCURRENCE, COMPANYMAINTENANCE PERSONNEL CLEANED THE SPARKPLUGS AND RELEASED THE ACFT FOR FLIGHT. THE PILOT TEST FLEW THE ACFT AND STATED THAT IT PERFORMED NORMALLY. HE THEN LOWERED THE BANNER HOOK, DOVE DOWN TO ENGAGED THE BANNER AND STARTED TO CLIMB. THE ENGINE BEGAN TO RUN ROUGH AND LOST POWER. THE PILOT ATTEMPTED TO JETTISON THE BANNER TWICE & COULD NOT. HE THEN ATTEMPTED TO LAND ON AN INTERSECTING RUNWAY AND CRASHED. AN EXAM OF THE ENG REVEALED THAT THE SPARK PLUGS WERE OIL FOULED/WET. THE CYLINDERS OF THE ENG HAD JUST BEEN INSTALLED & THERE WAS NO RECORD OF AN ENG RUN-IN.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.