My night cross country turns out to be far more exciting than planned

The next stage of my private pilot flight training was scheduled to be a night cross country. On February 18, 2016, my instructor, Dave Tharp, and I set out to fulfill that requirement. Despite being windy at altitude, the forecast looked good overall. Temperatures had reached the low sixties during the day and the moon was nearly full. The winds at the surface which had concerned me earlier began dissipate as evening fell. It turned out to be a decent night for a flight.

We set out after topping off the gas and letting Dave double check my pre-flight planning. This was my first night flight of any sort since 1995 when I was a student at Central Missouri State University. The fact that it was also going to be a cross-country made it even more exciting. Although things inevitably look quite different at night, my confidence was still fairly high. We were flying over familiar territory and I had flown the entire route in the simulator beforehand so I knew what landmarks I should be looking for.

Everything started off well. We took off at 7:00 p.m. and turned toward our destination. The plane felt good. We were climbing well. The turbulence reported by students on previous flights dropped off as soon as we got above pattern altitude. The moon was bright. We had smooth air and were climbing through to our cruising altitude of 3,500 feet MSL. It was indeed a good night for flying.

All of a sudden everything changed. As we were transitioning from climb to cruise we felt a small thump. To both Dave and me it felt like the impact came on the left side of the fuselage. Because it was dark, there was no way to see exactly what had happened. We knew that a bird had struck the plane. However, no damage was visible and the plane continued to fly smoothly. We discussed the situation. In training we are constantly reminded, “aviate,” “navigate,” “communicate,” in that order. There was no immediate emergency. We knew where we were and it was a VFR flight. ATC communication was not a priority. I simply continued to fly the plane. We monitored the situation and made normal radio calls as needed.

Ultimately, we returned safely to Dexter (KDXE). The trip back was exceedingly slow. At one point we had a ground speed of less than 40 knots. Not only had the winds at altitude picked up, we had far more drag than expected. The plane needed a lot more rudder than normal. At the time I chalked it up to wind gusts. It turns out that there was a little bit more going on. We did not know that yet.

After landing we stopped to top off the fuel. Still thinking that the impact had been on my side of the plane, I used my flashlight to check the cowl and fuselage for bird guts. Nothing was found. By that point it was darker than ever so we could not see the damage on the outboard side of the right strut. It was only when we taxied to the hangar that the true situation became clear.

As we pushed the plane back inside Dave got some blood on his hands. With the plane now inside under electric lights we were able to see the damage to the right wing for the first time. What we had thought was a glancing blow from a small bird turned out to be a direct hit from a goose. The impact was intense and right where the strut meets the wing. The Stoddard County Flyers’ plane will not be flying again for a while. What makes me the saddest about this is that recently we have had several fellow student pilots start to train. The goose has put us all on hold.  Fortunately, we have insurance and the club president is in the process of making the necessary FAA reports.

Although both human beings came through the experience unscathed, afterwards my nerves began to kick in somewhat. In the air I was too busy flying to really think about it. On the ground I had all the time I needed. I will admit that it took me a little while to fall asleep last night. Unfortunately, the danger of bird strikes is just as real a part of aviation as the risk of collisions with deer is to cars and motorcycles. This was just one of those unfortunate accidents. It could have been so much worse. Please do not try this at home.