Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sandpoint Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sand Point, Idaho 83864
Monday, August 27, 2012 19:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and the student pilot had conducted a night visual flight rules instructional flight and were returning to their home base, a nontower-controlled airport. The student pilot set the airplane up for landing, and, according to the flight instructor, they looked carefully but did not see any wildlife on or near the runway throughout the approach and flare. However, during the flare, a deer ran onto the left side of the runway and collided with the airplane’s left horizontal stabilizer. The pilots maintained control of the airplane, and the subsequent touchdown and landing roll were uneventful. The airplane’s stabilizer was substantially damaged. According to the flight instructor, this was the third deer strike at that airport in as many years. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport/Facility Directory stated that wildlife was present on and in the vicinity of the airport, and the flight instructor reported that a similar message was normally contained in the airport's automated weather observing system radio broadcast. Postaccident discussions with the airport manager and FAA personnel revealed that deer are a known problem at the airport, and that efforts are underway to approve, fund, and install an airport perimeter fence no sooner than fall 2014. Discussions with United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Management Division personnel revealed that the agency’s local office was willing and able to provide direct technical assistance to the airport to explore and implement deer hazard mitigation strategies in the interim.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A deer strike during the landing flare. Contributing to the accident was the airport’s lack of any deer incursion prevention measures, such as an airport perimeter fence.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/27/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1945 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sand Point |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83864 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 481636N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1163308W |
| Event Location Airport | Sandpoint |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SZT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2131 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 2020 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SZT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2131 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30594 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NWM ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 3 2012 10:39AM |
| User who most recently changed record | reej |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3082E |
| NTSB Number | WPR12CA375 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | N |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17271435 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 22 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3880 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Silverwing Flight Services |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sandpoint |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83864 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Silverwing Flight Services |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Sandpoint |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83864 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SZT |
| Departure City | Sand Point |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SZT |
| Destination City | Sand Point |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 12 2012 5:21PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 01 |
| Runway Length | 5500 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |