Unexpected Wildlife Management Forces Pilot’s Quick Thinking

Routine flight turns into an unexpected learning experience.

Wednesday, February 04, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

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The author says what should have been a routine landing turned into an unforgettable encounter. [Illustration: Joel Kimmel]

Key Takeaways:

The author recounted hitting a deer during a routine landing at a rural, unfenced airport at dusk, highlighting the significant risk of wildlife encounters on runways.
The incident exposed practical challenges such as a dying phone battery and the lack of readily available airport contact numbers, emphasizing the need for better pilot preparedness.
Key lessons include the importance of heightened wildlife awareness during approach, maintaining vigilance until the flight is complete, ensuring communication device reliability, and meticulously verifying current insurance policy details.

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My background in aviation started when I was quite young, and my dad took me up in his new-to-him Cessna 150.

My dad and I didn’t connect on many things throughout my childhood, but I’ll always remember that first flight with him when it was just us, and he showed me the basics of flying an airplane. He’d point things out on the ground, but I couldn’t recognize them from the air. It didn’t matter though, because I was flying.