No injuries were reported when a passenger jet hit a deer Wednesday evening while taxiing at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.
An airport official described the incident as a "freak incident."
It happened shortly after 7:30 p.m., when US Airways Flight 3215 arrived from Nashville and was taxiing on Runway 36C, according to the FAA. The pilot was directing the craft to a gate when it hit the deer.
The plane, an Embraer 175, was carrying 53 passengers and a crew of three.
The only casualty was to the deer, which did not survive.
Haley Gentry, an airport official, said deer live on the airport's 6,000-plus acres but are rarely seen anywhere near the runways.
"It's a rare thing," she said. "We have a wildlife management plan, and it addresses every type of wildlife inside our property. If we determine that wildlife is a problem, we have a system of dealing with it."
The plane finally arrived at the gate shortly before 8:30 p.m., about an hour later than scheduled. Mechanics checked the craft, but they found no damage. The plane eventually completed its flight to Columbus, Ga., leaving Charlotte two hours later than normal.
The runway was closed briefly while crews checked the plane and cleared the dead deer.
