- Date
- May 18, 2025, 14:20 local (19:20 UTC)
- Place
- Mountain View Airport, MO
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4831AExcalibur Excalibur
- Defining event
- Enroute: Birdstrike
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Central Region
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20250518005609A
- Case key
- 200173
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
An in-flight collision with a bird while enroute.
Findings · 2
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 reported that while flying about 1,500 ft above ground level, a large bird struck the right side of the airplane and the right main landing gear separated from its attachment point. The pilot flew back to the airport and performed a soft field landing in the grass adjacent to the taxiway. Post accident examination revealed substantial damage to the right side of the fuselage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4831A
- Reported as
- Excalibur Excalibur
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 102898
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 170
- Engine
- Rotax 503UL, 53 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal; Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Departed
- KMNF · Mountain View, MO
- Destination
- KMNF · Mountain View, MO
- Airport
- KMNF · Mountain View
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 47
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 1, 2024
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,355 total · 5 in this make and model · 1,345 as pilot in command · 10 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft
- Temperature
- 65 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.98 inHg
- Observed at
- KUNO, 11 nm away
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 28, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.5 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.