- Date
- December 18, 1994, 18:15 local (23:15 UTC)
- Place
- Carrollton, GA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N5440RCessna 172F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report June 29, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19941218041709A
- Case key
- 3507
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 pilot's inadvertent collision with trees, adjacent to the taxiway, while attempting to avoid a deer that crossed the taxiway.
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
According to the student pilot, while taxiing for takeoff, a deer crossed in front of the airplane. The pilot attempted to avoid a collision with the deer, and the airplane veered off the right side of the taxiway into a stand of trees.
Factual narrative
On December 18, 1994, at 1815 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172F, N5440R, veered off a taxiway and collided with a stand of trees while taxing for take off at West Georgia Regional Airport, Carrollton, Georgia. The solo flight operated under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91, with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane sustained substantial damage, and the student pilot was not injured. The flight departed Villa Rica, Georgia, at 1530 hours.
According to the pilot, he completed a full stop landing and was back-taxing for another takeoff from runway 34. As the airplane approached the hold area, short of the active runway, a deer crossed the taxiway in front of the airplane. The pilot lost control of the airplane as he swerved to avoid a collision with the deer. The airplane went off the right side of the taxiway, and collided with a stand of trees.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5440R
- Reported as
- Cessna 172F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17252990
- Airframe hours
- 2,740
- Engine
- Continental O-300-D, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Watson, Tracy S.
- Registered owner
- Performance Aero Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 28, 1994 · 40 hours before
- Departed
- 20GA · Villa Rica, GA
- Destination
- CTJ
- Airport
- CTJ · West Georgia Regional, runway 34, 5,000 × 100 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
- 27
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 59 total · 35 in this make and model · 10 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 37 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CTJ
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 N5440R · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.