NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ATL89FA157
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 ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.
Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper
Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Enhanced Prediction of Three-dimensional Finite Iced Wing Separated Flow Near Stall
Icing on three-dimensional wings causes severe flow separation near stall. Standard improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES) is unable to correctly predict the separating reattaching flow due…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2021 · Journal article (JAAER)
Analysis on the Negative Emotional, Physiological, and Cognitive Responses Elicited from of the Activation of a Stall Alarm
Failing to identify an aerodynamic stall can lead to the inability of an aircraft to sustain flight. To warn pilots of an impending or fully-developed stall, many aircraft have safety devices installe…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗