- Date
- April 29, 2000, 21:30 local (Apr 30, 2000, 01:30 UTC)
- Place
- Mt. Pleasant, SC
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9385CPiper PA-32RT-200
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000429007279A
- Case key
- 49164
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The airplane collision with a deer during a night landing.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The pilot arrived at the destination airport and established a traffic pattern for a night landing on runway 17. The pilot completed the before landing check which included turning on the landing light. According to the pilot, the airplane was approximately 2500 feet down the runway on the landing roll when a deer was observed on the runway. As the airplane continued the landing roll-out, the right propeller struck the deer. After the airplane struck the deer, the right main landing gear collapsed. The pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane
Factual narrative
On April 29, 2000, at 2130 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32RT-200, N9385C, collided with a deer while landing on runway 17 at the East Cooper Airport in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The personal flight was operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane was substantially damaged, and the pilot and his passenger were not injured. The flight departed Kennesaw, Georgia, at 1900.
The pilot arrived at the destination airport and established a traffic pattern for a night landing on runway 17. The pilot completed the before landing check which included turning on the landing light. According to the pilot, the airplane was approximately 2500 feet down the runway on the landing roll when a deer was observed on the runway. As the airplane continued the landing roll-out, the right propeller struck the deer. After the airplane struck the deer, the right main landing gear collapsed, and the airframe sustained additional structural damage during the subsequent sequence of events.
The pilot did not report a mechanical problem with the airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9385C
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32RT-200 (PA-32RT-20)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7885046
- Airframe hours
- 5,785
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Laurice K. Rogerson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 17, 2000 · 21 hours before
- Departed
- RYY · Kennasaw, GA
- Destination
- 8S5
- Airport
- runway 17, 3,700 × 75 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 53
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 303 total · 188 in this make and model · 249 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 17 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 330° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 50 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CHS, 20 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N9385C · 2
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.