how do you land a plane pulling a banner?
 

How do you land a plane pulling a banner? Do you retract or unhitch the banner or hope it doesn't get tangled?

How much of a bear is it to tow a banner? Seems like it could have the dynamics of towing a Suburban with a Geo Metro.

Sixto
87 300D

I've had the same question. I always thought that maybe they just make a low pass at the airport and detach the banner first with some device, then go around again and land. I also always thought that the banner planes must use podunk airstrips which would allow this. Just my pure idle speculation.

I love it at the beach with a strong headwind, the piper cubs towing are barely making headway!

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 351K

I've seen one operation. The plane takes off without the banner. The plane has a tow hook and circles around to snare a large loop set on poles with the tow hook. The loop has a long line which is attached to the banner. The banner is jettisoned prior to landing at the field.

MTI is correct
 

with one additional detail.

The banner is folded over itself and laid out backwards on the ground so that the tow plane sort of "peels" it off the ground and the load increases gradually. A light tow plane cannot simply snatch the full load off the ground.

Yes, you fly next to the runway, drop the banner, then go around and land.

Here's a video from a local banner operator I know. Says business is good these days. Here it's purely seasonal.

Banner Towing Intro - YouTube

Thanks for the video dynalow. What is he flying? It looks like a Champ or a J3 Cub. I watched until he dropped the banner and never saw a good shot of the plane.

I make banners for a living, and one time we were putting up a banner for a local Bank grand opening. It was a very windy day and the banner was very hard to keep a hold of, it drug my helper and I about 20 feet before we could wrangle it down. :D

I'm always amazed at how slow those planes go, they must generate a ton of lift

They're lightweight with light wing loading. In other words, plenty of wing for their weight. The Champ and J3 both qualify for Light Sport flying which means that their max gross weight is something less than about 1,350 pounds. Light Sport is a relatively new license (more correctly certification) that allows people to get certificated without a medical certificate. Their drivers license serves as their medical certificate and they are tightly limited by flight distance, day flying, one passenger and I think some other things.

I don't know exactly what the stall speed is on a J3 or a Champ (I believe that plane is one or the other,) but it's very slow. I started out in a Champ and IIRC it's stall speed is 45MPH. My plane has a 60MPH stall speed and that's FAST compared to one of those.

That said my 140 in slow flight would appear to be very slow.

a few years ago, I was standing in a parking lot, talking to friends and we noticed a plane towing a banner for the baseball game was overhead. We forgot about the plane and continued talking until we realized the plane was not moving relative to the ground. Then we watched for another 10 minutes or so as the plae hung motionless right over our parking lot. The pilot eventually changed heading and was able to make some headway.

A bit of a windy day was it?

I have always wanted to go to an airplane competition they have every year in Valdez Alaska. They commonly have 30 or 40 knot wind. They have short field competitions where a number of Super Cubs will lift off in about 12 to 15 feet.

I have landed my little plane in a pretty strong wind where I almost felt like I was hovering.

Another thought I had that relates to the slow plane you saw:

Something that has gotten very popular on short field planes is what are called Vortex Generators(VG's.) They are little angled tabs that are strategically placed along the leading edge of the wing. They make swirling vortices(are there any other kind?) that flow over the wing. This allows the air to continually flow smoothly over the wing at slower speeds making for a slower stall speed. Stalling happens when the air no longer flows smoothly over the top of the wing and begins to "burble."

VG's would be the ideal modification for a banner towing plane. This may very well have contributed to the apparantly stopped airplane you observed.

I don't know Larry. If you watch the last minute or so, the plane lands and there is a pretty good side view as it turns.Looks like she has 8 or 9 Piper PA-12's & others from this link.
FAA Registered Aircraft, Dealers and Manufacturers in Rio Grande, New Jersey (PIPER, BEECH)

Here's the business' web site. :cool:
Paramount Air

I failed to mention it was an extremely windy day and he was attempting to fly directly into the wind.