N7482D, a 1957 Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub registered for aerial advertising banner towing crashed Sunday morning 31 August 2008 at Camarillo, CA airport CMA just after an advertising banner pickup was made. The 53 year old pilot was pronounced dead upon impact at the scene about 0930. A witness stated the plane got the banner off the ground, pulled it up, there was a big "pop" and the engine went silent. Then it just came down. Newspaper photos showed the fuselage crumpled in half with the wing upside down; major crushing damage was to the forward fuselage and engine area.
The steep pullup of the tow aircraft in successfully picking up the banner under full added power is a critical time because of the steep pullup angle of climb and the low altitude above ground. An engine power failure at such a time would cause the airplane to stall with a big drag load and offer no or virtually no chance of stall recovery.
This is the second Camarillo crash of a Piper PA-18-150 owned by the same aerial advertising company within the last two months. On 10 July 2008 a sister ship crashed off the 101 Ventura Freeway in an industrial area of Camarillo following a power loss while banner towing. That pilot walked away uninjured from that crash landing that overturned the plane after hitting a mound of dirt during the emergency landing. That pilot had successfully jettisoned the banner just prior to the crash.
The aerial advertising company, based in Florida, had stationed five working Super Cubs at CMA. Please see my photos of one of them, N7471D registered Restricted class. All are white with blue trim, operated with uncowled engines and remote oil coolers.