Flying an airplane takes a command of certain skills, but being able to dodge a deer isn't typically considered one of them.

A UVSC-owned Diamond DA42 Twin Star plowed into the deer at 1 a.m. on Aug. 22 while landing, said Mario Markides, UVSC flight operations manager. As part of the training program, pilots fly during the day and night.

Damage to the plane is estimated at $50,000, and lost potential student rental fees could run as high as $30,000.

While no one was hurt but the deer, which died, it makes for an expensive problem. The airport has fencing around its roughly 1,000 acres, but deer still manage to get through. In the daytime, pilots can see the animals from the air and can take steps to avoid them. But at night they can't be seen until the last moment.

"The big problem is you can't swerve," Markides said.

On Monday morning, Provo Animal Control officers responded to a call that deer were on the runway, but eventually the incident was turned over to the state Division of Wildlife Resources.

The only real way to get rid of deer in the area is to send out technicians to eliminate them, said Craig Clyde, DWR wildlife program manager, i.e. send out people with guns who will kill them.

Deer will likely die if they are moved because they are too skittish, he said. They'll beat themselves to death if not tranquilized, and even if they survive the move they most likely won't know how to find food in their new location.

So about twice a year, DWR is called to the airport and officers kill deer that won't stay off the runway.

Part of the problem is that the airport is near the lake, in an area that deer find hospitable because of an abundance of food and shelter.

"Wherever you provide habitat for an animal, they find that niche," Clyde said. "So, yes, it is appealing to them."

Another problem is that once deer find their way through the fence, they can't find their way back out. Trapped, they settle in.

Markides said that students and instructors have seen as many as six at a time inside the fence, and that he saw three on Friday.

"You don't want to eradicate a species like this," he said.

But UVSC, the largest client at the airport, has to consider other problems besides deer safety.

"You actually jeopardize the safety of the passengers and the aircraft itself," he said.

Many of their flights have multiple people in the aircraft, and the planes are very expensive. The Twin Star is worth more than half a million dollars.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.