- Date
- October 25, 2016, 09:00 local (13:00 UTC)
- Place
- Lancaster, PA
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N600RVRaytheon 58
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing gear not configured
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 6, 2017
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20161025023229A
- Case key
- 94411
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
A collision with deer on the runway during the takeoff roll.
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 of the multiengine retractable landing gear airplane reported that during takeoff, two deer ran onto the runway as the airplane became airborne and that he heard and felt one of the deer hit the left main landing gear. He further reported that he diverted to an airport with an operating control tower, where he performed two passes in front of the tower, and was informed by tower personnel that it "appeared" that the left main landing gear was no longer "attached to the airplane". The pilot reported that he decided the best course of action was to land with the landing gear retracted, and on short final he moved the mixture controls to idle cut off, feathered the propellers, and turned both fuel selectors off. The airplane landed gear up and all persons on board evacuated immediately. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. In an email exchange with the Director of Operations of the flight company, he reported that there were no reported mechanical anomalies with the airframe or engine prior to the deer impact. The Federal Aviation Administration Chart Supplement airport page for the departure airport in part states: "Deer and large flocks of geese on and invof [in the vicinity of] arpt."
Factual narrative
The pilot of the multiengine retractable landing gear airplane reported that during takeoff, two deer ran onto the runway as the airplane became airborne and that he heard and felt one of the deer hit the left main landing gear. He further reported that he diverted to an airport with an operating control tower, where he performed two passes in front of the tower, and was informed by tower personnel that it "appeared" that the left main landing gear was no longer "attached to the airplane". The pilot reported that he decided the best course of action was to land with the landing gear retracted, and on short final he moved the mixture controls to idle cut off, feathered the propellers, and turned both fuel selectors off. The airplane landed gear up and all persons on board evacuated immediately. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. In an email exchange with the Director of Operations of the flight company, he reported that there were no reported mechanical anomalies with the airframe or engine prior to the deer impact. The Federal Aviation Administration Chart Supplement airport page for the departure airport in part states: "Deer and large flocks of geese on and invof [in the vicinity of] arpt."
Aircraft
- Registration
- N600RV
- Reported as
- Raytheon 58 (UNDESIGNAT)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- TH-1854
- Built
- 1998
- Airframe hours
- 3,933
- Engines
- Cont Motor IO-550-C, 300 horsepower, reciprocatingCont Motor IO-550-C, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Aero-Tech Services Inc
- Registered owner
- Aero-Tech Services Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- LOM · Philadelphia, PA
- Destination
- LNS · Lancaster, PA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- LNS · Lancaster, runway 26, 6,933 × 150 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Auto-pilot, Onboard weather, Stall warning system
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
- 29
- 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
- May 12, 2016
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 3,894 total · 120 in this make and model · 3,728 as pilot in command · 211 in the last 90 days · 51 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 41 °F, dew point 34 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.23 inHg
- Observed at
- KLNS, 1 nm away
Docket · 4
The files NTSB released with the investigation on January 10, 2017, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 685 KB 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.