What happened
The aircraft approached the field to perform its first banner pickup of the day. The flight proceeded without initial difficulty as the pilot made contact with the pickup loop. Following this, the pilot entered a climb and subsequently performed a push-over maneuver at approximately 200 feet AGL. During this phase, the airplane lost some altitude before regaining forward speed.
Upon releasing the banner, the aircraft began to pitch upward. This was followed by a continuous increase in a rightward bank and roll. The aircraft eventually rolled to a full 90 degrees, at which point it impacted a tree. A witness on the ground reported that the engine noise sounded normal until they heard the pilot pull the power, shortly before the sound of the impact.
At the time of the accident, the pilot had approximately 500 hours of total flight time, including 60 hours in this specific make and model. The pilot had been employed by the operator for about two months and possessed roughly 40 hours of experience in banner towing operations. Weather conditions at the time were reported as having light winds from the north with no turbulence.