Incident Details
A pilot was returning to land after completing his third banner towing flight of the day. The airplane was towing a 25x75 foot banner. The pilot made two attempts to release the banner, but both failed. He subsequently elected to land the airplane with the banner still in tow.
Approach and Landing
The pilot performed a straight-in approach for runway 14, which has a length of 3,539 feet. In an effort to have the airplane touch down before the banner, he executed the approach steeper and faster than normal. However, he noted that he was not flying as fast as he would have liked, because he wanted to stop the airplane before reaching an intersecting runway. Stopping before the intersecting runway would prevent blocking it while he cleared the banner and airplane from the landing runway.
Sequence of Events
When the airplane was over the runway and approximately 20 feet above the ground, the banner became snagged. The pilot applied full power, but the airplane stalled and subsequently impacted the runway.