The pilot reported that during the flare for landing at the airport in Burwell, Neb., a deer ran towards the Piper PA-28-181 from his left side.
He tried to raise the left wing to clear the deer.
The left main landing gear hit the deer and the gear separated from the wing.
The airplane subsequently skidded to a stop. The spar that the landing gear separated from sustained substantial damage.
The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident as an inadvertent collision with a deer during landing.
NTSB Identification: CEN14CA063
This November 2013 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Unfortunately, clearing the runway doesn’t work if you don’t know they are there, and deer will always surprise you.
Deer Alerts are big help. Yes, those little whistles that you put on your car. I know they may not be “approved” but they can’t be anymore of an issue than a go pro camera mount.
Not familiar with Deer Alerts, they are little plastic whistles like dog whistles that you mount on an area of your car where air will pass through, like the grill. When deer hear you coming, they just stand still to see what the noise is. They really work. I used to do a lot of driving in the Colorado mountains late at night. With my big driving lights on I could see lots of deer and elk roaming about on either side of the road. After I installed the Deer Alerts I noticed that when I went by the animals were all standing still looking behind me to see what the noise was.
$7-8 at your local hardware store – cheap insurance.
First taught in Western PA TO overfly runways to clear grasing animals, especially grass strips
From my experience, mule deer become accustomed to aircraft and (like teenagers who wear black at night when jay walking on busy streets) show limited to no concern. The best course is to overfly and LOOK for deer… But! NEVER assume a flyby will clear the runway. If deer are present… find another runway.
Ouch, that’s expensive, I know the feeling that runs through you when you see wildlife on the runway. Many times I’ve encountered this, once I had to hop over a coyote….oftentimes I could go around, you have to expect the unexpected and sometimes its shear luck.