- Date
- February 8, 2002, 18:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Point Pleasant, WV
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N18325Beech BE-23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Status
- Completed · report August 26, 2002
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20020208002429A
- Case key
- 54173
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 a deer while landing at dusk. A factor in the accident was the dusk light condition.
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 private pilot was landing in dusk light conditions, when just before touchdown the airplane struck a deer with its right wing. The airplane sustained damage to the right wing leading edge, near the fuel tank.
Factual narrative
On February 8, 2002, about 1800 eastern standard time, a Beech BE-23, N18325, was substantially damaged when it struck a deer while landing at the Mason County Airport Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The certificated private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the local personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
In a written statement, the pilot said he was landing at dusk, on runway 25, when he felt the airplane hit something. A post accident inspection of the airplane revealed the airplane struck a deer. The pilot stated he did not see the deer on or near the runway while landing.
The airplane sustained damage to the right wing leading edge, near the right fuel tank.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N18325
- Reported as
- Beech BE-23
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- M2336
- Airframe hours
- 3,120
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A4K, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Randall F. Hawkins
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 6, 2001 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- 312 · Ravenswood, WV
- Destination
- Ravenswood, WV
- Airport
- 3I2 · Mason County, runway 25, 4,001 × 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
- 45
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- July 12, 2000
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 250 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dusk
- Wind
- 210° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- PKB, 40 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on July 31, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 421 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.