- Date
- September 27, 2025, 15:30 local (19:30 UTC)
- Place
- Okeechobee, FL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N8586APiper PA28R
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Birdstrike
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 4, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20250927016259A
- Case key
- 201777
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
Collision with a bird during cruise flight.
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
During an instructional flight, while the airplane was in cruise flight, a large black bird suddenly appeared in a dive and struck the right wing. The airplane landed uneventfully, and a subsequent inspection revealed that the right wing had sustained substantial damage.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8586A
- Reported as
- Piper PA28R (201G)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2844164
- Built
- 2016
- Airframe hours
- 3,991
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360-C1C6, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Skyborne Airline Academy Inc
- Registered owner
- Skyborne Airline Academy Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · September 12, 2025 · 25 hours before
- Departed
- VRB · Vero Beach, FL
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, ADS-B, Stall warning system, Onboard weather, Handheld GPS, 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 31
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 28, 2025
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 1,063 total · 95 in this make and model · 954 as pilot in command · 203 in the last 90 days · 47 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 35
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 117 total · 14 in this make and model · 59 as pilot in command · 58 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 81 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.85 inHg
- Observed at
- OBE
- METAR
- METAR KOBE 271735Z AUTO 14004KT 10SM VCTS CLR 30/27 A2985 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT E AND W=
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 4, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 1.9 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.