Cessna 150 N40LM

Summary

On 27 September 1999 at about 21:05 local time, a Cessna 150 registered N40LM was involved in an accident near Detroit, Michigan, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

27 September 1999 at 21:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Nearest airport

Detroit City (DET)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Cessna 150

Registration

N40LM

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Other Work Use

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI99LA349

1 person was seriously injured.

the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane which resulted in the inadvertent spin. A factor was the pilot snagged the banner pole.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported he had made two successful banner tows before the accident occurred. On the third banner tow, the hook '...missed the banner rope and grabbed one of the pick-up poles instead. It was my intent to keep my aircraft and attached pole over the airport to minimize the possibility of property damage or injury to people on the ground if the pole broke free of my hook.' The pilot attempted to stay within the airport boundary and he entered a climbing left turn. He reported, 'I added too much left rudder which immediately put me into a spin. Altitude at this point was approximately 300' AGL.' He reported he attempted to do a spin recovery but the airplane impacted the runway in a 30 degrees nose low attitude. The airplane bounced twice before impacting a jet blast wall.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.