Skip to content

ATL89FA157

1989-06-03 · N. MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport CRE

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S CONFUSION AND DIVERTED ATTENTION REGARDING THE MULTIPLE BANNER RELEASE SYSTEM IN THE COCKPIT RESULTING IN AN INADVERTENT STALL/SPIN INTO THE TERRAIN FROM A LOW ALTITUDE. ALSO CAUSAL WAS THE PILOT ATTEMPTING THE ABRUPT MANEUVER AT THE LOW AIRSPEED AND ALTITUDE.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT HAD MADE A MULTIPLE TOW FLIGHT OF 4.1 HOURS WITH FIVE BANNER PICK UPS AND DROPS BEFORE STOPPING FOR FUEL. AFTER REFUELING, HE MADE ONE TOW OF 0.9 HOUR BEFORE RETURNING TO DROP THE BANNER. HE HAD BEEN CLEARED FOR RIGHT TRAFFIC TO DROP THE BANNER ALONGSIDE RUNWAY 23 AT GRAND STRAND. THE BANNER DID NOT DROP AND THE PILOT MADE A RIGHT TURN ACROSS THE INLAND WATERWAY. THE BANNER THEN DROPPED INTO THE WATER. THE AIRPLANE WAS OBSERVED TO MAKE A STEEP RIGHT BANK, THEN 'ENTER INTO A RIGHT SPIRAL INTO THE TREES'. AFTER ABOUT 4-5 MINUTES SMOKE WAS OBSERVED AT THE CRASH SITE. ONE BANNER PICK UP HOOK WAS FOUND IN THE WRECKAGE AND ALL FIVE BANNER TOW HOOKS WERE FOUND IN THE OPEN POSITION. THE COCKPIT BANNER RELEASE CONTROLS CONSISTED OF FIVE RINGS ATTACHED TO THE RELEASE CABLES AND WAS MOUNTED ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF THE RIGHT SEAT. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1989_ATL89FA157.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). All research papers