Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 54.7; Flight Crew Total 512.5; Flight Crew Type 163.6
Ground Event / Encounter Person / Animal / Bird
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Maintenance Action
Airport; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
This airport is known for deer in the environment of the runway. When I was lined up to land I did not see any deer in or around the runway. There was also a large deer fence along the side of the runway that I thought would protect the runway. After landing on Runway 27 I was slowing the plane when my passenger started saying 'go-around' at that moment 5 deer started to run across the runway in front of us. I decided we would not be able to get airborne and climb above the deer in the time/space between us and the deer. I got on the brakes harder and attempted to steer between the deer on the runway as I got the plane as slow as possible before impact. I missed the first deer but the second deer disappeared under the right side of the plane. There was a thump as we rolled over the deer and I immediately noticed lost pressure in the right brake. I was able to control the plane using the left brake and right rudder. We taxied clear of the runway and to transient to assess the damage to the plane. The deer was dead but no one was injured and the plane had minor damage to the gear door; the brake line and the prop. I may have been able to prevent this incident by overflying the runway to scare away any deer that may be there that I couldn't see. I didn't think it was necessary since I couldn't see any deer on final. Now I think I will do that procedure if there are deer visible or not when landing at an airport with a known deer problem. (My passenger says they were brown deer that blended with the brown grass near the runway and couldn't be seen until they moved.) The residents in this airport community said they have frequent deer strikes on the runway.
PA28 pilot reports a collision with a deer during landing rollout causing minor damage to the aircraft and killing the deer.