Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Flagler County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Palm Coast, Florida 32164
Saturday, October 26, 2013 14:21 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot, the airplane was at 1,000 feet, airspeed about 100 knots, and he was following tower instructions to enter a right downwind for the runway. Approaching the downwind leg, he saw a large black bird and commented to his passengers that they had to keep an eye on it in case they needed to maneuver. The pilot continued toward the airport, looking for traffic and birds, and within a few seconds the airplane was very close to the bird. The pilot descended the airplane to where he thought it would pass overhead, but the bird then dove at the last second and the pilot heard a "thud" on the cabin roof. There were no other indications of impact, and the pilot continued a "normal" right base, a right turn to final, and landing. Once back at his hangar, the pilot noticed the substantial damage to the left ruddervator. A feather retrieved from the ruddervator impact site was examined "whole feather" and microscopically, and was determined to be from a black vulture (coragyps atratus) with an average weight about 4.7 pounds.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An inadvertent collision with a black vulture.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/26/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1421 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Palm Coast |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32164 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 292803N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0811223W |
| Event Location Airport | Flagler County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | XFL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 10 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1500 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DAB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 31 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 19 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32283 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Orlando FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 21 2014 4:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N328HR |
| NTSB Number | ERA14CA032 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Unknown |
| Aircraft Explosion | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BEECH |
| Aircraft Model | V35B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-10269 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIKEN ROBERT C II |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | PALM COAST |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 321376932 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | AIKEN ROBERT C II |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | PALM COAST |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 321376932 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | XFL |
| Departure City | Palm Coast |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | XFL |
| Destination City | Palm Coast |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 21 2014 4:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |