This got the heart pumping a bit faster

[1avidflyer 2025]

I took a friend for a ride the other evening in my Kitfox 4.  Nice flight and we both had a good time.  That changed a bit after I dropped him off at the airport and flew the 10 miles home to my grass strip.  I was chasing the sunset, and two planes had to take off in front of me as well, but I probably wouldn't have noticed it anyway.  (who would think this would happen)  My friend even looked back at the plane from about 15' away and gave me a thumbs up as I was going to taxi away.  Well about half way home, something started banging.  Plane was flying fine, but it sounded like something was going to land in a different place than me.  Had deer on my field, but didn't intend to go around, but was able to dodge the furry things.  I thought that maybe the turtle deck was somehow coming loose, but when I got around to the other side of the plane, I saw this.  Kind of a relief to find out what it was, and no damage caused, (except to my heart and underwear)  ((well not really to the underwear)).  Anyway, I usually keep the seat belts snapped together when not in use on the passenger side, I will have to make sure to always do that in the future.  JImChuk

[Vmx136 2]

Thanks for the story Jim. That makes enough noise on the ground.  Definitely be concerning mid flight. The deer on our strip are terribly hard to scare off, they come right back and start munching again.  It just adds to the sportiness of our grass strip. 

[ChrisBolkan 151]

You are lucky there is no damage. Something similar has happened a number of times to me when a passenger gets out. Fortunately in my case it has always started banging during taxi and I have been able to correct it before taking off. Fortunately other than being scary and the potential to produce cosmetic damage, there is no real danger.