Remember something like this? You are lying on a beach or attending a music or sports event and suddenly you hear the drone of an airplane. You look up and see a banner floating toward you. It displays a message that you might still be able to remember. This method is called aerial advertising and is very effective.
So how do they get such a huge banner into the sky? If the banner were attached to the plane before it took off, this would cause two problems. First, the banner would drag across the runway and get damaged. Second, The drag of the huge banner would make it more difficult to get off the ground and this means the banner would drag even longer.
It takes a plan, good quality materials, and a skillful pilot to make this happen. First, the airplane takes off without the aerial banner, but with a device called a “grapnel hook.” This is attached to the tail of the plane but the hook end is hanging in the pilot’s window.
Once the airplane is airborne, the pilot releases the hook from his window and lets it fall. The hook falls below the plane and is ready for the next part. Meanwhile, on the ground the banner is folded up, but it has a lead pole attached to the front. A harness is attached to that and a pick up rope to that. Finally a loop of rope connected to the lead rope is draped between two poles about five or six feet off the ground.
Now the plane circles around and, with the hook dragging below the plane and flying at 80 miles an hour, the pilot heads straight for the two poles. As he reaches them, he throttles the engine and pulls back on the stick, causing the plane to soar upward at a steep angle. The hook snags the loop of rope, thus pulling the banner up, off the ground and into the sky. What if he misses? Then he circles around and tries it again.
But how does the banner stay upright and not, like a kite, spiraling in the wind? First, the tail end of heavy billboards or banners has tiny parachutes that catch the wind and keep it straight. Then the bottom has weights that keep that edge closest to the ground. The letters are usually seven feet tall and the banner might be up to fifty letters long. So everything must be planned just right so that the drag is not too great or too little.
When he has completed his promised passes over the designated area, the pilot flies the banner back to the drop off place, comes in low, and, at the right place, remotely unhooks the banner so that it can float to the ground unharmed, ready for use again if this is appropriate.
Larger planes have been known to pull the banner into the air on takeoff without damaging it, dragging on the runway. However, this requires more speed and power than the single engine prop planes have. They continue to use the above method to get the banner into the sky.
All this may seem like a lot of trouble, but the result is worth the effort. Thousands will see the banner, both at the event and on the way to and from it. The message will get out and people will be influenced by the message. But not all aerial advertising is provided equally. Some simply take an order and contract it out. Since 1996, AirSign has been leading the industry by taking personal care of their customers using the best pilots, sharpest looking planes, and providing accountability for their work through free GPS tracking. Give them a call and find out what they can do for you!
