Banner towing questions?

benyflyguy

benyflyguy

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benyflyguy
on vacay down at 26N and they have a compliment of banner towers. I always wondered how those really worked.

Do they have those things walled throttle wise?? Just sounds like they are all out and crawling along at about 30kts. I get the drag of that big sail behind them slows them down. Guy that just flew over I heard two big “cracks” ?backfire like sound- didn’t sound good.
They guys in the cub like tail draggers seems to really be good at almost stopping them into the wind.
 
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evapilotaz said:
The towing banner airplanes I have seen are ratted out abused buckets of bolts. How they stay airworthy is beyond me.
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I took 2 lessons on banner towing. My ''instructor'' let the hook hit the ground on both flights, which is a big no no. The first time it went through the back window of the plane. The second time it hooked the elevator severely restricting the movement. I took the plane and landed it on the grass, then walked away and never returned.

The plane was a 150HP 150. A blast to fly with all that extra power. It had no radio, just a hand held. The whisky compass was laying on the floor. Every item in the plane that did not have to be there was removed, including sun visors and carpet. One wing was white and the other was yellow. I was told that was because someone hit the fence next to the airport after landing and tore the wing off. The replacement was yellow. The plastic part of the instrument panel and the rear plastic bulk head was gone. The plastic door panels were gone. There were no plastic pieces in the plane at all. The roof liner was gone. The plane had just enough instruments and gauges to be considered legal. I guess it was airworthy.

That was my second aviation job and the first one I walked away from.
 
benyflyguy said:
on vacay down at 26N and they have a compliment of banner towers. I always wondered how those really worked.

Do they have those things walled throttle wise??
Click to expand...
Depends on the operator and how they spec their equipment in relation to the tows they're willing to sell. The company I worked for flew big stuff. Most of our panels were 40'x100' or so but we did stuff that was in the 60'x120' range. We ran 180hp supercubs with extended wings and oversize props and I rarely had to run over 2400 rpm and would often be below 2000 rpm by the end of the tow when most of the fuel was gone. If I pulled something really big that was going really far (i.e. all four tanks full) I'd have to run full throttle the first 20 minutes or so or it wouldn't hold altitude but we didn't like to run them that hard so that was rare for us. There are other companies that try to do what we did with 150 hp engines and/or few airframe mods. You can do it but you have to beat the snot out of the motor to get it done if you're pulling big panels.
evapilotaz said:
How they stay airworthy is beyond me.
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Airworthiness is subjective for banner guys. ;)
 
Zeldman said:
I took 2 lessons on banner towing. My ''instructor'' let the hook hit the ground on both flights, which is a big no no. The first time it went through the back window of the plane. The second time it hooked the elevator severely restricting the movement. I took the plane and landed it on the grass, then walked away and never returned.

The plane was a 150HP 150. A blast to fly with all that extra power. It had no radio, just a hand held. The whisky compass was laying on the floor. Every item in the plane that did not have to be there was removed, including sun visors and carpet. One wing was white and the other was yellow. I was told that was because someone hit the fence next to the airport after landing and tore the wing off. The replacement was yellow. The plastic part of the instrument panel and the rear plastic bulk head was gone. The plastic door panels were gone. There were no plastic pieces in the plane at all. The roof liner was gone. The plane had just enough instruments and gauges to be considered legal. I guess it was airworthy.

That was my second aviation job and the first one I walked away from.
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Good decision. If that instructor had worked for me, he wouldn't have been flying and he certainly wouldn't have been teaching. Ain't no banner worthy killing yourself over.
 
Juliet Hotel said:
Good decision. If that instructor had worked for me, he wouldn't have been flying and he certainly wouldn't have been teaching. Ain't no banner worthy killing yourself over.
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I sometimes wonder if he survived his aviation career, or how long he stayed with it before he could not get a job anymore. And I didn't walk away silently....

Juliet Hotel said:
Airworthiness is subjective for banner guys. ;)
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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Sad, but true.
 
Many if not most banner operations are pretty low budget. I was offered a banner job once, told the guy I didn't have my commercial ticket, he didn't care. I considered it, I was in my 20s then, young and foolish, and one of the tow planes was a Stearman, he also had a couple of ratty Cessna O-1s... but he wanted every weekend, all day, all summer, and I had a new girlfriend...

Good thing I didn't, a couple of weeks later one of their planes crashed, engine failure during a pickup. I'm still married to the girl.
 
benyflyguy said:
on vacay down at 26N and they have a compliment of banner towers. I always wondered how those really worked.

Do they have those things walled throttle wise?? Just sounds like they are all out and crawling along at about 30kts. I get the drag of that big sail behind them slows them down. Guy that just flew over I heard two big “cracks” ?backfire like sound- didn’t sound good.
They guys in the cub like tail draggers seems to really be good at almost stopping them into the wind.
Click to expand...

Funny you bring this up. I’ve been out here in OC all week and the winds have seemed to keep them grounded most of the week except today. Winds last week have been crazy. The windsock on the OC Fishing Pier has been fully extended nearly all week. Wish I’d known you were here. I’d have met for coffee at least!
 
Flymy47 said:
Funny you bring this up. I’ve been out here in OC all week and the winds have seemed to keep them grounded most of the week except today. Winds last week have been crazy. The windsock on the OC Fishing Pier has been fully extended nearly all week. Wish I’d known you were here. I’d have met for coffee at least!
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I’ll be here till next sat. Was actually planning on bringing the 182 down for some of our trip..but that is a real long story!! If still around would love to have u over for a beverage
 
Flymy47 said:
I’ve been out here in OC all week and the winds have seemed to keep them grounded most of the week except today.
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Were they hurricane strength winds? Winds don't typically keep those guys down. Low vis and/or empty beaches will, but winds not so much. Its still early in the season though so I suspect their weekday tow schedule is still light. Weekday flying usually gets heavier as it gets closer to the 4th.
 
Didn’t think about the not so busy beaches and you are correct in that it’s early in the season. Probably more to do with that than the wind.
 
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