Things That Go Bump (Often at Night)

Jay Hopkins

Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Wildlife strikes, exemplified by a fatal Piper Seminole crash, are a common and serious aviation hazard, often underestimated, leading to significant damage, costs, and fatalities.
Pilots have access to various online tools and databases (e.g., BAM, AHAS) to assess historical and real-time risks of wildlife strikes in their planned flight paths and operational areas.
Effective mitigation strategies for pilots include adjusting flight plans, modifying altitudes to avoid common wildlife zones, avoiding high-risk areas or times, and delaying takeoff if wildlife is present on or near the runway.
Reporting all wildlife strikes is crucial for enhancing data collection, improving risk assessment models, and developing more effective prevention and mitigation strategies for the aviation community.

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It was a routine flight in every way. A University of North Dakota flight instructor took off from Grand Forks, North Dakota, at 5:45 p.m. with a private pilot who was in the university’s commercial/instrument flight program, for a three-leg, cross-country night flight in a twin-engine Piper PA-44-180 Seminole. It was a clear night with winds out of the northwest at 10 to 15 knots, plus an airmet for possible moderate turbulence below 8,000 feet. The pilot had carefully planned the flight, utilizing DUAT to assess the weather and filing two VFR flight plans with flight service.

After an intermediate stop at Hutson Field Airport in Grafton, North Dakota, they arrived at St. Paul Downtown Airport in St. Paul, Minnesota, at 8 p.m. and used a crew car to go for dinner. Before their departure the pilots had the airplane fuel tanks filled with 42 gallons of 100LL aviation fuel, which was more than enough to get them back to Grand Forks with adequate reserves.