A pilot named João Martinho died on Saturday when his light aircraft crashed at Portimão Aerodrome in Portugal's Algarve region while towing an advertising banner.
Preliminary findings from Portugal's Cabinet for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft and Railway Accidents, known by its Portuguese acronym GPIAAF, were released Monday. The agency said the equipment and materials used to tow the advertising banner did not match the specifications set by their manufacturers.
Investigators cautioned that this finding could not yet be linked to the cause of the crash. They said it was not possible, at this stage, to state that the equipment had a relation to the accident.
What the investigation found
According to GPIAAF, the aircraft was on its first flight of the day. The pilot, 28, was duly authorized and certified to carry out the flight, the agency said. He released the banner before the aircraft struck the ground.
How the crash unfolded
GPIAAF said that on Saturday morning, a team made up of Martinho and an assistant began preparing for another day of aerial banner-towing work along the Algarve coast. The Cessna 150 F was refuelled with 86 litres of fuel before takeoff.
At 9:46 a.m., the aircraft picked up the banner in a typical nose-up manoeuvre, successfully hooking it onto the tow line, GPIAAF said. Moments later, at very low speed and altitude, the aircraft's right wing dropped, followed by an abrupt drop of the left wing and a pronounced nose-down attitude, and the plane rapidly lost altitude, the agency said.
