- Date
- December 27, 1990, 19:05 local (Dec 28, 1990, 00:05 UTC)
- Place
- St. Ignace, MI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N33797Piper PA-32-260
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19901227056349A
- Case key
- 14976
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 deer crossing the runway which the pilot was unable to avoid.
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 was making a night landing on runway 07 when a deer crossed the runway. He was able to add power and avoid the deer; however, a second deer crossed the runway and contacted the airplane shearing off the left main landing gear. Additional damage resulted during the landing due to the loss of the left gear.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N33797
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-260
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-7500031
- Engine
- Lycoming O-540-E4B5, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Great Lakes Air
- Registered owner
- Unknown
- Departed
- Y84 · Mackinac Island, MI
- Airport
- 83D · Mackinac Co., runway 7, 3,400 × 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
- 36
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 6,000 total · 4,000 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- 135° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
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 N33797 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.