Kansas Wildlife Officials Hit Deer With Agency Plane

"It was definitely an interesting landing."

That very well could be Kansas' understatement of the year, as uttered by the one man who knows more on this particular subject than just about any other living Jayhawk.

Lloyd Fox was one of six Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks officials returning from a conference in Idaho Thursday night aboard the agency's Cessna 421. As the aircraft landed at Topeka's Billard Airport, something went THUMP!

That something turned out to be a deer that had wandered onto the runway at just the wrong time.

Fox, touted by the Wichita Eagle as the state's top deer expert, said the good news was that Kansas doesn't have quite the number of deer found in other, nearby states.

"We were fairly close to the ground," he said. "At least they aren't stacked up that high."

While Fox was making jokes, pilot Robert Ahrens was counting his lucky stars.

"If it had been about a foot or two closer to the fuselage it probably would have wiped out a landing gear," Ahrens said. That could have been over $100,000 worth of damage."

Ahrens said his landing light caught one buck standing on the runway. But that's not the deer he hit. Instead, another buck ran into the 421's path just as the wheels touched the ground, impacting one flap. The flap was slightly damaged, but the aircraft was sky worthy.

As for the deer... well, no one rightly knows. All six of the state employees ran out onto the runway after the aircraft taxied to a stop. But there was no sign of either deer.

The next morning, airport personnel were out in force, also looking for the deer. No deer. No dice.

FMI: www.mtaa-topeka.org/billard.htm