PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70; Flight Crew Total 17800; Flight Crew Type 150
Ground Event / Encounter Person / Animal / Bird
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Environment - Non Weather Related
I was instructing in a Piper PA28-161 Warrior. My student was making the landing rollout; completing a normal full flap night landing. He made three touch and goes and the full stop was to be our last landing of the evening. No deer were seen during any of the first three landings. Runway lights were on the medium step; and all appeared to be illuminated. The aircraft's beacon; strobes; navigation lights; and nose mounted LED landing light were on and operating throughout the landing roll and at the time of the deer strike.During landing roll; at approximately mid-field on the 5;000 foot runway; the student had slowed the plane to about 20 mph a small buck deer came into view walking left to right onto the runway 30 yards ahead of us. The student in the left seat applied heavy braking. I took the controls and applied maximum braking and had slowed to about 3 miles per hour. With no way to avoid the deer; we watched as the small buck walked into the idling prop.Exiting the plane; we found the dead buck laying on its right side about three feet behind the nose wheel and under the inboard portion of the right wing. It appeared as though the propeller struck the deer near the right hindquarters; breaking its back. I would estimate the weight of the animal to be about 75 pounds.No attempt was made to restart the engine; which died when the prop stopped as it hit the deer. Instead; we completed the shutdown checklist and secured the aircraft. I walked to the hangar and brought a golf cart to the aircraft. After removing the deer carcass from the runway; we towed the aircraft to its hangar with a tow bar and the golf cart.A precursory inspection in the lighted hangar revealed no visible damage to the propeller; cowling; or nose gear assembly. I stress the visual examination was precursory and in no way equaled a professional assessment by a qualified A&P mechanic. No one was injured.
I was flying with my instructor in a Piper PA28-161 warrior. I was coming back from a night cross-country. I needed to get 5 of my night landings completed. Me and my instructor had already done 3 touch and go's; and to the side and on the runway was clear; in the dark night of what we could see. All the lights were on at the airport; all the lights on the airplane [were] on. We were coming on our last landing to a full stop on that night. I was right on the glide slope 2 red 2 white and was doing a normal landing. Right when I touched down I applied brakes and pulled back on the controls; so we could taxi-off taxiway Charlie. As we were coming to a stop I saw a little buck deer come from my left to my right; and I said deer; deer! He was trotting along and when he looked into my landing light he stopped.When I said deer; deer! I applied heavy braking and pulled back on the controls as hard as I could. The brakes locked up and applied the maximum braking. And we locked the brakes and we were stopping quickly. My instructor helped with braking the plane. And we hit the deer about 3 miles an hour with the idling prop. If the deer was 5 feet farther we would of missed him. I maintained control of aircraft as this happened. I maintained the centerline of the runway; I didn't swerve; [and] I kept the plane straight and in control. And when we hit; the idling prop stopped. The first thing that came to my mind was the ELT; and I tuned it to 121.5 MHz; and the ELT didn't go off. We shut everything off except the lights on the aircraft; for safety reasons.When we got out; the buck was 3 feet behind the wheel; with a broken back. I called the owner of the plane and he was on his way; and the deer; I called the Game Warden; and said I could keep the deer if I cleaned it; which I did. We did not restart the aircraft; and we went through the shutdown checklist; with the lights still on. My instructor went and got the golf cart to tow the plane; and I stayed with it; so if someone came in the pattern; I had my lights on; and I could make a call and say abort landing; and don't land; so we could talk to other pilots to be safe; but no one came into the pattern. We put the deer on the cart and towed the plane back to its hangar; but there was no visual damage to the propeller; cowling; or nose gear assembly. The visual examination was precursory and in no way equaled a professional by a qualified A&P Mechanic. But [neither] the instructor nor I [were] hurt. We both were safe and nothing happened to us.
PA28 pilots reported that during landing rollout; a deer walked in front of the aircraft and was struck by the propeller.