C188 BANNER TOW PILOT REPORTS FAILURE OF RELEASE MECHANISM AND SUBSEQUENT TOUCH AND GO ON HIGHWAY WITH BANNER DEPOSITED IN MEDIAN.

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I WAS PIC OF A C188 CESSNA AGWAGON. MY JOB FOR THE MORNING WAS TO PULL A BANNER. THE MORNING STARTED OUT UNEVENTFUL WITH THE PICKUP OF THE BANNER BEING ROUTINE; NO PROBS. I TOWED THE BANNER OVER THE REQUIRED AREA FOR THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF TIME AND THEN RETURNED. ABOUT 10 MI OUT; I GOT THE AWOS. WINDS WERE RPTED AT 360 DEGS AND 6 KTS. LNDG RWY IS NS. GND CREW REQUESTED THAT I DROP THE BANNER DOWNWIND FOR EASIER COLLECTION OF BANNER. THE BANNER WAS RATHER LARGE AND WAS ABOUT ALL THAT THE AGWAGON WAS ABLE TO TOW DUE TO THE SMALLER SIZE OF THE PROP. NEVERTHELESS; AGWAGON TOWED THE BANNER JUST FINE. UPON GETTING CLOSER TO THE ARPT; I SLOWED AND ALLOWED TFC TO TKOF AND DEPART AREA TO THE N. I THEN ENTERED A R BASE FOR RWY 18 FOR THE BANNER DROP ON THE E SIDE OF RWY 18. I LINED UP WITH THE GRASS AREA USED FOR THE BANNER DROP; WAITED FOR INSTRUCTION. GND CREW ADVISED ME THAT I WAS AT THE CORRECT HT ABOVE GND FOR BANNER DROP. I THEN WAITED FOR THE ORDER TO DROP THE BANNER. AS I REACHED THE POINT THAT WE NORMALLY DROP THE BANNER; GND CREW ORDERED THE DROP AND I PUSHED THE RELEASE LEVER FORWARD AND WAITED FOR THE PITCH CHANGE OF THE ACFT NORMALLY FELT WHEN DROPPING THE BANNER. I FELT NO CHANGE; LOOKED BACK AND THE BANNER WAS STILL ATTACHED. I APPLIED MORE PWR AND PULLED ON THE CABLE JUST AFT OF THE RELEASE HANDLE; MAYBE THE CABLE CAME LOOSE AT THE HANDLE. NO LUCK; THE CABLE HAD SEPARATED NEAR THE RELEASE HOOK AT BACK OF AIRPLANE. BEING LOW AND SLOW AND EXECUTING A GAR WITH A BANNER NOW PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO THE AIRPLANE; I THEN STRUGGLED FOR ALT WHILE MAINTAINING AIRSPD. THE PLANE DID NOT CLB AND BARELY MAINTAINED ALT WITH THE WT AND THE TAILWIND DUE TO THE DOWNWIND DROP. I ADJUSTED THE THROTTLE AND PROP AND MIXTURE SETTINGS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE PLANE. AS I SAW THAT I WASN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE IT BACK TO THE RWY; I PLANNED FOR THE LCL HWY THAT RUNS PERPENDICULAR TO THE RWY. GND CREW WAS VERY WORRIED AND I COULD TELL THAT THROUGH ALL OF THE RADIO CALLS TO ME. I CONTINUED FIGHTING FOR ALT AS I WAS APCHING THE TREES AND THE PWR LINES AT THE END OF THE ARPT PROPERTY. ONCE I REACHED THE HWY; I RADIOED THAT I WAS LNDG ON THE HWY. I MADE NO CHANGE IN PWR SETTINGS; JUST LOWERED THE NOSE AND LINED UP FOR THE HWY. THERE WAS A SPACE BTWN A GROUP OF CARS AND I MANEUVERED AWAY FROM THE TFC. I DRAGGED THE BANNER IN THE MEDIAN UNTIL IT CAME LOOSE. THE BANNER CAME TO REST IN THE MEDIAN WITH NO PART OF IT ON THE HWY. I WAS SO CLOSE TO THE HWY AND STILL UNSURE IF THE PLANE WOULD FLY; SO I MADE ONE QUICK BOUNCE ON THE HWY WHILE DETERMINING IF THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE PLANE. THE PLANE FLEW JUST FINE SO I ABORTED THE EMER LNDG ON THE HWY; CLBED WHILE CIRCLING THE HWY IN CASE THERE WAS STILL ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE PLANE. ONCE AT COMFORTABLE HT ABOVE GND I MADE A RADIO CALL TO GND CREW AND ARPT UNICOM THAT I WAS ALL RIGHT AND THE LOCATION OF THE BANNER. GND CREW REQUESTED THAT I CIRCLE THE BANNER TO HELP IN THE LOCATING AND RECOVERY. I CIRCLED UNTIL GND CREW REACHED THE BANNER THEN I ENTERED L BASE FOR RWY 36 AND LANDED INTO THE WIND. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: 1) CABLE BREAK NEAR RELEASE HOOK. 2) DROPPING BANNER DOWNWIND AND FORCED INTO POS WHERE I HAD TO EXECUTE GAR WITH A TAILWIND AND A BANNER NOW PERMANENTLY ATTACHED TO PLANE. 3) PULLING BANNERS WITH PLANE THAT IS UNDERPOWERED DUE TO SIZE OF PROP. REMEDIAL ACTIONS: 1) BE MORE DILIGENT IN INSPECTING CABLES AND RELEASE HARDWARE. 2) DROP BANNER UPWIND IN ANTICIPATION OF GAR WITH BANNER ATTACHED; SHOULD MALFUNCTION EVER HAPPEN AGAIN. 3) NO LONGER USE THIS AIRPLANE TO PULL BANNERS; OTHER AGWAGON HAS CORRECT PROP FOR OPS.