Banner Detachment Incident Involving Cessna 172Q near Woodingdean (G-CFSM)

Incident Overview

On 5 June 2010, at approximately 1615 hours UTC, a Cessna 172Q (registration G-CFSM) was returning from a banner towing detail when the banner detached from the aircraft and fell onto a house at Cowley Drive, Woodingdean, East Sussex. The aircraft sustained no damage; the house suffered damage to roof tiles. Both crew members on board were uninjured.

Engineering Examination

The banner tow cable was constructed of stranded steel surrounded by a plastic sheath. Examination of the fracture faces of the two halves of the failed cable revealed that the sheathing had been damaged in a plane at right angles to the cable axis and that the damaged cable had been in use for some time before the final failure. Most of the steel strands of the cable had failed in overload, and all failures were at points close to the plane of the damage to the sheath. The failure was consistent with sequential strand failure following initial cable damage. The cause of the damage to the sheath could not be determined.

Operator Report

The operator reported that the cable was supplied by a specialist American company that was no longer trading at the time of the incident.