Banner Plane Lost Power Before Lakewood Crash: NTSB

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A small banner airplane that crashed just shy of the runway at Lakewood Townshipo Airport in August lost engine power shortly before the crash, according to federal investigators.

The Bellanca Champion 7GCAA hit pine trees and crashed just short of Runway about noon on Aug. 4, as it was returning from a two-hour flight of towing a banner. The commercial piliot, who has a flight instructor rating for a single-engine airplane, suffered minor injuries in the crash, according to the preliminary crash report from the National Transportation Safety Board. No one else was injured in the incident.

The pilot told investigators that he had decided to return to the airport because of changing weather conditions in the area. As he made his final approach, he reduced the engine to idle as the airplane descended from about 500 feet, approaching the banner drop-off area at the end of Runway 24. At about the tops of the trees, he pushed the engine back to full throttle, preparing to drop the banner.

The engine did not respond as he expected, operating but "(it) produced very limited power while making abnormal combustion sounds."

He released the banner, and because the airplane was low and going slow, "he pitched down and elected to land straight ahead." The airplane hit small pine trees and terrain, and came to rest about 500 feet past the departure end of Runway 24, the report said.

The two-seat airplane, operated by United Aerial Advertising of Delaware, that was manufactured in 1974 was substantially damaged, with the left wing separated but still attached, and the Lycoming O-320, 150-horsepower engine was partially separated from the frame.

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