- Date
- November 3, 2023, 11:32 local (16:32 UTC)
- Place
- Houston, TX
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N5875GGrassman Timothy B RV-14A
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern final: Birdstrike
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration, Houston FSDO
- FAA report
- 20231103017509I
- Case key
- 193365
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 bird strike to the airplane’s vertical stabilizer during an approach for landing.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the personal flight stated that during a two mile final for landing at the destination airport, he encountered a group of four large birds. He pitched the airplane down to avoid striking one of the birds, but he did not have time to avoid them. The airplane struck one of the birds at an airspeed of 105 kts and at an altitude of 880 ft mean sea level. The bird, identified as a black vulture, remained draped around the vertical stabilizer, and there was some loss of stability about the vertical axis. The pilot still had positive control of the airplane, and he declared an emergency landing without further incident. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5875G
- Reported as
- Grassman Timothy B RV-14A
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 140691
- Built
- 2023
- Airframe hours
- 19.2
- Engine
- Lycoming YIO-390-EXP292, 215 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · July 21, 2023
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- CXO · Conroe/North Houston Regional Airport, runway 14, 7,501 × 150 ft, concrete
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Data recorder, Auto-pilot, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Electronic primary flight display
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
- 48
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 14, 2023
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 5-point
- Flight hours
- 16,572 total · 20 in this make and model · 2,241 as pilot in command · 207 in the last 90 days · 64 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.31 inHg
- Observed at
- CXO
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 4, 2024, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.5 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.