By Scott “Sky” Smith
Anyone remember the movie “Field of Dreams?” The movie was from 1989, and starred Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella who built a baseball field on his farm in Northeast Iowa. It had several other great actors like James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster. The reason he built the baseball field is he kept hearing a voice say, “If you build it, they will come.” It became an obsession and he built the field. People thought he was crazy. But the voice persisted and the players did show up. Kind of magical.
There are lots of meaningful things about the movie, father-son relationships, belief in things that don’t really make sense, and sacrifice. And it created a couple of very memorable lines. There was the main one, “If you build it, they will come.” But there was also my favorite, “Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa!”
One thing that is very cool about the movie is the way they portrayed the players just appearing out of nowhere. They just materialize at the edge of the corn field, or they vanish as they walk back into the corn rows.
In my situation we don’t have a “farm,” but we have a couple acres. Almost every morning we have a lone wild turkey walk down the hill behind the house and through our back yard looking for something to eat. We’ve gotten in the habit of throwing food off the back deck.
The “magical” movie part is when I walk out on the deck, look over the edge, and drop the seed and corn — there is only the one turkey. Once I look up, there are usually four or five deer standing at the edge of the back yard waiting for me to leave the deck. They were nowhere to be seen until the food dropped and just like in the movie they “magically” appear out of nowhere. Okay, I know it is not magic when that happens, but it is still amazing how fast they can appear.
If You Build the Runway, They Will Come
This is the time of the year when all kinds of things “materialize” on the side of the road or runway. It’s time to remind everyone, springtime is for animals on the runway. Actually, anytime is for animals on the runway.
“We were making a night landing and a coyote ran across the runway.”
I do believe the larger commercial airports tend to have fewer of these issues, but they still have problems. From my experience, if you are in a rural or smaller airport, you are at risk of running into anything from chipmunks to elk.
My first experience was when my wife and I were returning home late at night flying a Cessna 172RG. We had spent the evening at an event a couple of hours away. After an uneventful flight we were making a night landing and a coyote ran across the runway. In this case, we were in the landing phase, just easing the nose back when that crazy coyote ran across the runway just ahead of the plane. I was able to add power and pull back on the yoke to luckily “hop” over the coyote without even giving him a haircut. Although, not without a loud gasp (might have been a scream) from my passenger. Guess you could call it lucky, but I also feel that being vigilant when landing and being extra vigilant landing at night is very important.
Things That Go Bump in the Night
Nighttime or dusk landings are the busy time for animal crossings. It’s also important to not let the size of the animal fool you. Just because the cute creature is small doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. In one case my customer was landing a Beech Bonanza V35 when a small but very stout raccoon ran across the runway.
I know a little about raccoons. I had a raccoon as a pet when I was a kid. It used to look in the neighbor’s windows from the gutters and chase dogs away from our yard. Plus, we see them all over the highways dodging vehicles like some sort of “Frogger” game. In my neighborhood we have a band of masked hooligans that come by our deck at night raiding the cat food bowl and then head over to neighbors across the road and raid their chicken coop. If they don’t find food, they can become aggressive towards each other and anyone that wants to break up the ruckus. They are low profile, stout, tough animals.
Anyway, my V35 customer, thinking he would roll right over the raccoon miscalculated the mass of a big furry low center-of-gravity raccoon on the runway. That one raccoon caused a nose gear collapse and a prop strike. Which, of course, required an engine tear down inspection and prop repair. That’s about a $40,000 claim. A simple furry speed bump in the runway ended up causing a substantial claim to the aircraft.
It’s not only coyotes or raccoons, there are also armadillos, dogs, and more. These are all small in relationship to the plane. Even though they can do some significant damage, it’s not the same as some of the bigger animals like deer, elk, horses, or cows. Sure, a small animal can cause gear collapse or ground loops, but that’s usually about it. It’s this bigger roadblock that can really put a damper in the day.
We had a customer landing at his home airport at dusk (remember that) and had a couple of deer crossing the runway. I assume you have seen deer in the road before. It seems like deer always stop to get a good look at the vehicle approaching them. You know the term “deer in the headlights.” I guess it’s to see if they know you, before they decide to run. In this case, the deer waited too long, and the sport plane hit the deer and took out the prop, engine and the nose gear. Interestingly, this was the second deer strike for the same plane, same pilot, same airport in the same year. Guess that should be a warning sign too. If it’s happened before; it probably will happen again.
One of the biggest runway incursions, we had was a customer with a landing encounter with a “gang” of elk. The pilot did all he was supposed to do. The airport was known to have animals. He flew the airport looking at the runway and windsock before deciding to make the landing. During the landing a cow elk ran out of nowhere, he added power and pulled up, while he was able to clear most of the cow with the aircraft, the propeller didn’t clear the elk. One propeller blade was broken off (along with half the elk) and he was forced to power off and attempt to land again. Which is when, out of nowhere, a bull elk decided to make his run for the other side of the runway. That elk hit the wing, which was severely dented. The bull elk caused the aircraft to spin around and damaged the landing gear and several other parts of the aircraft. While this ended up as a total loss, the pilot and his passenger were not injured.
Bad Things Happen When Animals Get in the Way
From the insurance perspective what should you do? First let’s review the basic coverage you need. For example, if you carry liability only you might be covered for any airport or runway damage and cleanup, but nothing for the damage to your plane. If you do not have in-motion hull coverage, you won’t have any coverage for the aircraft damage.
The first question we always ask when the insured calls us with a claim is, “Did anyone get hurt?” In my opinion, that’s more important than any aircraft. The aircraft is just a piece of equipment. Aircraft are like buses, there is always another one around the corner. Just think how all those aircraft classified websites stay in business if there are no aircraft for sale. In case of the elk, the aircraft had a tremendous amount of sentimental value, but it is still just an aircraft and no one got hurt.
What Now?
As the owner, you are responsible for keeping the aircraft as secure as possible to prevent further damage. You should call the broker or the insurance company claim number in your policy (or both) and turn in the claim. It is also very probable that the airport is going to ask you to move it as soon as possible, so take as many pictures as possible. Smart phones are a great resource in the event of a claim. Document the claim as best as you can. If at all possible, write notes and take pictures before you forget the details.
If the aircraft is not at your home airport, you will need to make travel and possibly lodging accommodations. Claims don’t usually get settled overnight, it can take days or weeks, depending on the situation. Make sure you talk to the claim department and inform them of your situation. Keep all your receipts for rental cars, wreckers, etc., as they can be part of the claim.
Note that big and low animals are really dangerous. When we think of the airplane’s landing speed, a low and slow creature like an alligator or a wild hog could flip many a plane without even trying.
I have been told that you can ask about keeping the deer or elk. The deer crash pilot got to keep the venison; I don’t know what happened to the elk. In the case of the pilot and the raccoon — he chose not to keep the raccoon.
