Accident Details
On June 28, 2008, at 1403 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-18-135, registration N3257B, operated by Van Wagner Aerial Media under Part 91 as a banner tow flight, nosed over on landing roll out at North Perry Airport (HOW) in Hollywood, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the vertical fin; the pilot reported no injuries. The flight had originated from HOW at 1000.
Flight Narrative
The pilot reported that after dropping the banner, he applied power to go around, but the throttle stuck at 2,500 rpm. He informed the control tower of his inability to reduce power and entered a right downwind for runway 9 right. While reaching under the instrument panel, he pulled on the throttle cable, which returned the throttle to idle as the airplane was abeam the landing threshold. The pilot then turned onto base leg and realized the airplane was high and fast. He initiated a slip to lose altitude and touched down on the last one-third of the runway. Observing the end of the runway, he applied brakes, causing the airplane to nose over inverted.
Aircraft Examination
Maintenance personnel examined the airplane and found that the throttle cable attachment tab had separated from the airframe. No evidence of corrosion or a preexisting crack was initially observed. The tab was sent to the National Transportation Safety Board Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C., for further analysis. Examination revealed that the tab had fractured due to two preexisting cracks that extended across at least 75 percent of the tab cross-sectional area.