DETROIT — A Cessna 150L aircraft that crashed Monday night into a Detroit neighborhood during a fireworks show belongs to Air America Aerial Ads Inc., which does business out of Genoa, Ohio.
The plane was flown by an unidentified 18-year-old man who either ran out of fuel or lost control of the aircraft.
Authorities said the plane got tangled in power lines as it descended, tearing several down as it made a crash landing at Cooper and Shoemaker streets on Detroit’s east side. The site is less than two miles from Coleman A. Young International Airport and about five miles from Hart Plaza, where the fireworks were launched.
A Detroit television station said a woman had a heart attack after one of the lines came down on her car and was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Jim Miller, Air America owner, could not be reached for comment. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.
While several news outlets quoted Detroit Police Chief James Craig and other members of the department as saying the pilot apparently ran out of fuel, an incident report filed with the FAA did not mention that.
Bob Katz, a Dallas-based commercial pilot for 35 years who’s also a flight instructor, told The Blade he does not believe a Cessna 150L aircraft is powerful enough to tow banners under most circumstances, especially on hot nights.
“It’s a struggle to stay up there [under those conditions],” Mr. Katz said. “I suspect it didn’t have the muscle to stay airborne.”
Christopher T. O’Neil, NTSB public affairs director, confirmed that will be addressed by the NTSB. Authorities said the pilot cut the banner before landing, apparently in hopes of regaining control of the aircraft.
Air America Aerial Ads said on its website it flies banners for many big-name corporations.
It drew controversy in 2012 for one it flew over the Penn State University campus calling for former head football coach Joe Paterno’s statue to be taken down. In 2010, the FAA temporarily grounded Air America after it flew banners during the Masters golf tournament that made fun of the sex life of golfing legend Tiger Woods.
Mr. Miller has defended those as freedom-of-speech issues, saying they are the words of clients. The FAA acknowledged it is not empowered to control message displayed by banner-towing planes.
Air America was formed in 1996 after Drake Aerial Enterprises, a company founded by Mr. Miller’s father in 1987, closed.
In 2006, a Bowling Green State University graduate was killed when the Piper aircraft he was piloting for Air America got caught in power lines and crashed on a U.S. 22 ramp in Steubenville, Ohio. Scott Holland, 22, was believed to be en route to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in Pittsburgh.
In 2010, Adam Danhauer, 24, of Whitehouse died when the Air America Cessna 150 plane he was flying crashed in a central Iowa cornfield.
Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com, 419-724-6079, or via Twitter @ecowriterohio.
First Published June 29, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
