Event WPR12CA375

Factual narrative

The certified flight instructor (CFI) and the student pilot had conducted a night visual flight rules instructional flight and were returning to their home, non-towered airport. The student pilot set up for landing on runway 1, and according to the CFI, they looked carefully for wildlife on and near the runway throughout the approach and flare, and did not observe any. During the flare, a deer ran onto the runway from the grass adjacent to the left runway edge, and struck or was struck by the left horizontal stabilizer. The pilots maintained control of the airplane, and the touchdown and rollout were uneventful. The stabilizer was substantially damaged, and the pilots were uninjured. According to the CFI, this was the third deer strike at that airport in as many years. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport/Facility Directory stated that wildlife was present on and in the vicinity of the airport, and the CFI reported that a similar message was normally contained in the airport's AWOS (automated weather observing system) radio broadcast. NTSB discussions with the airport manager and personnel from the FAA revealed that deer are a known problem at the airport, and that efforts are underway to approve, fund, and install an airport perimeter fence no sooner than approximately fall 2014. Discussions with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Management Division personnel revealed that the local office of the USDA was willing and able to provide direct technical assistance to the airport to explore and implement deer hazard mitigation strategies in the interim. The flight instructor and the student pilot had conducted a night visual flight rules instructional flight and were returning to their home base, a nontower-controlled airport. The student pilot set the airplane up for landing, and, according to the flight instructor, they looked carefully but did not see any wildlife on or near the runway throughout the approach and flare. However, during the flare, a deer ran onto the left side of the runway and collided with the airplane’s left horizontal stabilizer. The pilots maintained control of the airplane, and the subsequent touchdown and landing roll were uneventful. The airplane’s stabilizer was substantially damaged. According to the flight instructor, this was the third deer strike at that airport in as many years. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport/Facility Directory stated that wildlife was present on and in the vicinity of the airport, and the flight instructor reported that a similar message was normally contained in the airport's automated weather observing system radio broadcast. Postaccident discussions with the airport manager and FAA personnel revealed that deer are a known problem at the airport, and that efforts are underway to approve, fund, and install an airport perimeter fence no sooner than fall 2014. Discussions with United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Management Division personnel revealed that the agency’s local office was willing and able to provide direct technical assistance to the airport to explore and implement deer hazard mitigation strategies in the interim. 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).

• C Environmental issues-Physical environment-Object/animal/substance-Animal(s)/bird(s)-Contributed to outcome - C
• F Environmental issues-Operating environment-Airport facilities/design-Security-Contributed to outcome - F