LA Times · Aug 10, 2015
Recent airplane-banner crash makes 25 in two decades
Nicholas Baer, 12, was spending his Fourth of July bodyboarding with friends at Carlsbad State Beach, but that ended about an hour into the outing. There's been a plane crash, a family friend told the Carlsbad boy's mother over the phone.
"I think he got hit in the head by the propeller," the friend said.
Baer recovered after having surgery that night.
The aircraft was a Piper PA-18 towing an advertising banner, and a federal report about the crash is expected this week.
Accidents involving "banner towing" are tracked by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.