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Atlas / NTSB / CEN23LA131

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN23LA131

2023-03-06 Tomball, Texas, United States Airport · DWH None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N101BM

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH E-55

Year of manufacture

1971 · 52 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)

Seats / Engines

6 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

19711015

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A00890

Registrant of record

TURK MIKE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

An inflight collision with a bird.

Factual narrative

The flight instructor reported that during an instructional flight, a large bird flew into the path of the airplane and his evasive actions were unsuccessful in avoiding the bird. The bird struck the airplane’s left wing. The flight instructor made an uneventful landing following the bird strike. The left-wing leading edge and main spar were substantially damaged during the bird strike. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Animal(s)/bird(s)-Effect on equipment

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2023_CEN23LA131.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.