- Date
- April 27, 2014, 21:30 local (Apr 28, 2014, 01:30 UTC)
- Place
- Hazlehurst, GA
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6330KBeech A36
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Wildlife encounter (non-bird)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report December 5, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Case key
- 89143
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 inadvertent collision with wildlife while 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 approached his home airport on a long, straight-in, visual approach to land on a clear night with no wind. As the airplane touched down on the main landing gear, the pilot detected a "flash of brown" from his left and felt 3 rapid and distinct impacts before lowering the nose landing gear to the runway, which subsequently collapsed. The three occupants of the airplane egressed uninjured, and noted that the airplane had been substantially damaged. Several fatally injured deer were subsequently found on the runway. As a result of this investigation, the state department of transportation accelerated the planning and funding of a wildlife mitigation fence around the airport.
Factual narrative
The pilot approached his home airport on a long, straight-in, visual approach to land on a clear night with no wind. As the airplane touched down on the main landing gear, the pilot detected a "flash of brown" from his left and felt 3 rapid and distinct impacts before lowering the nose landing gear to the runway, which subsequently collapsed. The three occupants of the airplane egressed uninjured, and noted that the airplane had been substantially damaged. Several fatally injured deer were subsequently found on the runway. As a result of this investigation, the state department of transportation accelerated the planning and funding of a wildlife mitigation fence around the airport.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6330K
- Reported as
- Beech A36
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- E-2030
- Built
- 1982
- Airframe hours
- 6,863
- Engine
- Continental IO550B, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Ztj Aviation LLC
- Registered owner
- Ztj Aviation LLC
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 2014
- Departed
- PBI · West Palm Beach, FL
- Destination
- AZE · Hazlehurst, GA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- AZE · Hazlehurst, runway 32, 4,511 × 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
- 52
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 3,818 total · 1,257 in this make and model · 3,741 as pilot in command · 45 in the last 90 days · 16 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- AZE
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on November 28, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.4 MB in all.