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This happened back in Nov - around Thanksgiving but Ive been swamped and dealing with insurance and work until today. Mid last year we purchased a new (to us) 2003 Arrow. This time I asked my father if he would like to go along, it was just one of those lets go flying for the sake of flying and to keep the engine healthy flights. I made him sit in the left seat since I wanted to fly from the right for a change (I am a CFI but not teaching at the moment). The flight itself was completely uneventful. That all changed when we returned to our home airport.
I almost always fly a full pattern when VFR. As we maneuvered other planes departed the field without incident. It was around 2pm in the afternoon. Severe clear. Not a lot of wind but variable in direction. On final I visually inspected the runway environment. All clear. Checked again on short final, all clear again. Got into the flare and the wheels kissed the pavement. Couldnt have asked for a better landing. I saw some movement ahead and to my right. Standing in between the taxiway and the runway was a six point buck. My father saw it at the same time I did, or maybe a fraction of a second before or after, its hard to say. It must have been laying in the grass or had charged out of the woods as I was flaring and stopped. I have no idea.
I slammed the throttle forward and yanked back as hard as I dared on the yoke. We popped back up into the air, about 10 or so feet easily, as the deer started to charge. I saw his head disappear under my wing. I thought we were clear. I was wrong. I heard a thump. It sounded like it came from the gear as it was very close to me. I was wrong. I made a hasty call over the CTAF to warn the plane that was planning to take off after me. We went back up and came around. During the pattern I went over the situation in my head. Was the gear damaged? It was down and locked according to the indicators. The plane was flying perfectly. I informed my passenger we would be making an emergency landing and to be ready for a quick egress. I considered heading to a nearby towered airport but decided since the deer hit *something* I just wanted to get down on the ground asap.
I debated on if I had to land on the taxiway or even the grass runway. I decided to see if I could spot the corpse and since the runway was wide enough offset my landing and be stopped well prior to the corpse. I assumed I had killed it. Lining up on final I could see the deer on the left side of the runway. Keep in mind it had hit me on the right side. It did not appear to be moving. I offset to land on the right half and configured for a short field landing. Uneventful landing this time. We taxied up past the buck, it was amazingly still alive but had one antler missing and an eyeball hanging out. It was not going anywhere anytime soon. I warned off the next plane again and told them it was on the runway still.
I taxied up for fuel and immediately checked my gear. Keep in mind this is where I thought it hit. I thought I saw a bit of blood on the gear but everything looked fine. I decided to have my IA do a swing and check anyway. The airport staff member who came out didnt see any damage on the plane either. So at first I thought we got off easy. Then my father spotted this while we were refueling.
Apparently the deer had jumped UP into the wing (we were at least 10 feet off the ground) and gotten its antler stuck in our wing. They found the antler ~600 feet down the runway. The deer took two bullets. Two more deer were spotted while I waited for the airport staff to come back to see what we needed to do next for them.
Needless to say it will be a few more months until we are back in the air. Piper has to make a part for us. So during that time we are doing the annual and having a JPI 900 installed.
Worth noting this could have been MUCH worse. In the ideal case the deer would've hit the prop and I would've ended up with a new engine. But I feel like it would have impacted the fuselage or mid wing. Which likely would have spun us given they said the deer weighed about 150lbs. I imagine that would have totaled the aircraft and quite likely resulted in injuries or worse.
I am very eager to get back up in the air.
I almost always fly a full pattern when VFR. As we maneuvered other planes departed the field without incident. It was around 2pm in the afternoon. Severe clear. Not a lot of wind but variable in direction. On final I visually inspected the runway environment. All clear. Checked again on short final, all clear again. Got into the flare and the wheels kissed the pavement. Couldnt have asked for a better landing. I saw some movement ahead and to my right. Standing in between the taxiway and the runway was a six point buck. My father saw it at the same time I did, or maybe a fraction of a second before or after, its hard to say. It must have been laying in the grass or had charged out of the woods as I was flaring and stopped. I have no idea.
I slammed the throttle forward and yanked back as hard as I dared on the yoke. We popped back up into the air, about 10 or so feet easily, as the deer started to charge. I saw his head disappear under my wing. I thought we were clear. I was wrong. I heard a thump. It sounded like it came from the gear as it was very close to me. I was wrong. I made a hasty call over the CTAF to warn the plane that was planning to take off after me. We went back up and came around. During the pattern I went over the situation in my head. Was the gear damaged? It was down and locked according to the indicators. The plane was flying perfectly. I informed my passenger we would be making an emergency landing and to be ready for a quick egress. I considered heading to a nearby towered airport but decided since the deer hit *something* I just wanted to get down on the ground asap.
I debated on if I had to land on the taxiway or even the grass runway. I decided to see if I could spot the corpse and since the runway was wide enough offset my landing and be stopped well prior to the corpse. I assumed I had killed it. Lining up on final I could see the deer on the left side of the runway. Keep in mind it had hit me on the right side. It did not appear to be moving. I offset to land on the right half and configured for a short field landing. Uneventful landing this time. We taxied up past the buck, it was amazingly still alive but had one antler missing and an eyeball hanging out. It was not going anywhere anytime soon. I warned off the next plane again and told them it was on the runway still.
I taxied up for fuel and immediately checked my gear. Keep in mind this is where I thought it hit. I thought I saw a bit of blood on the gear but everything looked fine. I decided to have my IA do a swing and check anyway. The airport staff member who came out didnt see any damage on the plane either. So at first I thought we got off easy. Then my father spotted this while we were refueling.
Apparently the deer had jumped UP into the wing (we were at least 10 feet off the ground) and gotten its antler stuck in our wing. They found the antler ~600 feet down the runway. The deer took two bullets. Two more deer were spotted while I waited for the airport staff to come back to see what we needed to do next for them.
Needless to say it will be a few more months until we are back in the air. Piper has to make a part for us. So during that time we are doing the annual and having a JPI 900 installed.
Worth noting this could have been MUCH worse. In the ideal case the deer would've hit the prop and I would've ended up with a new engine. But I feel like it would have impacted the fuselage or mid wing. Which likely would have spun us given they said the deer weighed about 150lbs. I imagine that would have totaled the aircraft and quite likely resulted in injuries or worse.
I am very eager to get back up in the air.
