Plane hits deer and crashes on airport runway

NEWS9

A small, single-engine plane hit two deer during take-off on Wednesday night, leading to Carroll County Airport in Ohio, America being closed.

According to WTOV9.com two people were on board the 1959 Cessna and the plane came to a stop in a field off the runway.

The pilot of the plane and the owner who was a passenger told NEWS9 that they flew from the Canton-Akron area, refuelled and were taking off to return home.

Tom Erb had just bought the plane and was not able to fly it as he did not have a license, so Michael Bantz flew it.

'We made it about a third of the way up and we were just lifting off and heard a thump, thump,' Bantz told NEWS9.

'We did see deer running across in front of us and a couple of seconds later I said "We hit a deer" and I pulled the throttle back and the engine was running fine. We pulled in here and parked and called 911.'

Erb spoke of how he did not expect his first flight to go this way, but managed to laugh it off.

'I've loved aviation all my life,' he said. 'You know my kids are all grown up and I finally tried to fulfil my dream of being a full-scale pilot and this isn't going to deter me.'

The plane sustained heavy damage and is with the Federal Aviation Administration until an investigation is complete.

The airport reopened two hours after the incident on Wednesday evening.

Watch the video report from NEWS9

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