N3257BPiper PA-18-135 · 1954

On June 28, 2008, at 1403 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-18-135, N3257B, registered to Seashore Advertising Corporation, and operated by Van Wagner Aerial Media, under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, as a banner tow flight, nosed over on landing roll out at North Perry Airport (HOW), Hollywood, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received substantial damage to the vertical fin, and the pilot reported no injuries. The flight originated from HOW on June 28, 2008 at 1000.

The pilot stated he dropped the banner, applied power to go around, and the throttle stuck at 2,500 rpm. He informed the control tower he was unable to reduce power and entered a right downwind for runway 9 right. The pilot reached under the instrument panel and pulled on the throttle cable. The throttle returned to the idle position while the airplane was abeam the landing threshold. The pilot turned the airplane on base leg, and realized the airplane was high and fast. He started slipping the airplane to lose altitude and the airplane touched down on the last one-third of the runway. The pilot observed the end of the runway, applied brakes, and the airplane nosed over inverted.

Examination of the airplane by maintenance personnel revealed the throttle cable attachment tab was separated from the airframe. There was no evidence of corrosion or a preexisting crack. The throttle cable tab was sent to the National Transportation Safety Board Materials Laboratory, Washington, D.C., for further analysis. Examination of the throttle cable attachment tab revealed the tab fractured due to two preexisting cracks that extended across at least 75 percent of the tab cross-sectional area.