Pilot Debrief

BEECH V35B near Palm Coast, FL — 2013-10-26

Final reportERA14CA032
Sign in to save
Date
2013-10-26
Location
Palm Coast, FL, USA
Airport
XFL
Aircraft
BEECH V35B
Registration
N328HR
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
None
Fatalities
0

Probable cause

An inadvertent collision with a black vulture.

NTSB narrative

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 coding

Evidence available

  • Photos
  • 5 docket documents
View NTSB final reportView NTSB docket

Docket documents5

Related mishaps