C421 PLT HIT A TREE ON AN ILS APCH.

Narrative

ON JAN/FRI/99; AT NIGHT I INITIATED AN ILS RWY 34 APCH TO THE REDDING; CA; ARPT (RDD). I OBTAINED THE CURRENT WX FROM ZOA; AS THE TWR/ATIS CLOSED; WHICH WAS CEILING 300 FT OVCST; VISIBILITY 1-3/4 MI. I ALSO OBTAINED THE CURRENT ALTIMETER SETTING AND SET IT IN THE L ALTIMETER. RDD HAS PLT CTLED LIGHTING AFTER THE TWR CLOSES. I BELIEVE I ACTIVATED THE LIGHTS ON APCH; BUT THIS CONFIGN DOES NOT PROVIDE A MEANS TO CONFIRM THE STATUS OF THE LIGHTS. I MAINTAINED A STABILIZED APCH. AT DECISION HT (200 FT AGL) I SAW ARPT LIGHTING; AND CONTINUED. AT AROUND 100 FT AGL I FELT AND HEARD A BUMP COMING FROM THE L WING; AND AT THE SAME TIME I LOST VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE ARPT; AND IMMEDIATELY EXECUTED A MISSED APCH. I RECEIVED VECTORS FROM ZOA FOR ANOTHER APCH; AND LANDED. DURING ROLLOUT I LEARNED THE L BRAKE WAS INOP. I ROLLED TO THE END OF THE RWY; TURNED L ONTO THE RUN-UP AREA FOR RWY 16; AND SHUT DOWN THE ENGS. UPON EXAMINATION; I OBSERVED MINOR DAMAGE TO THE LEADING EDGE OF THE L COWLING (FIBERGLASS); A SMALL AMOUNT OF BRAKE FLUID LEAKING FROM THE L LNDG GEAR; AND A SMALL PUNCTURE TO THE L FLAP. I ALSO NOTICED PRIOR TO EXITING THE ACFT A CONTRACT SECURITY VEHICLE COMING FROM THE AREA OF THE LOC ANTENNA. I THEN TAXIED THE ACFT TO THE RAMP AREA. THIS WAS FURTHER INVESTIGATED THE FOLLOWING MORNING. IT WAS LEARNED THAT THE L COWLING; GEAR; AND FLAP STRUCK THE TOP OF A TREE AT ROUGHLY 50 FT AGL (AN APPROX 50 FT TALL TREE). THE TREE IS LOCATED APPROX 200 FT L OF RWY 34 CTRLINE AND APPROX 200 FT PRIOR TO THE RWY THRESHOLD. A R FRONT SEAT PAX; WHO IS A COMMERCIAL PLT WITH MULTI-ENG AND INST RATINGS; STATED THAT SHE WAS MONITORING MY APCH; AS REQUESTED BY ME; AND OBSERVED THAT THE LOC NEEDLE WAS NEARLY CTR; WITH A SLIGHT L DEFLECTION INDICATING THAT I WAS SLIGHTLY R OF CTRLINE. I RECALL THAT THE LOC WAS NEARLY CTRED; WITH GS STABILIZED THROUGHOUT THE APCH. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WHEN BRIEFLY 'BREAKING OUT' OF THE CLOUDS; MY MIND MISTOOK TXWY LIGHTING FOR THE RWY; EVEN THOUGH BLUE; AS THE TREE WAS NEARLY ALIGNED WITH THE PARALLEL TXWY. THIS EVENT WAS VERY BRIEF AS I EXECUTED A MISSED APCH IMMEDIATELY. THE SECURITY GUARD RPTED THAT AN ACFT HIT A DEER ON THE ARPT WITHIN THE PREVIOUS WK. OTHERS RPTED SEEING A LARGE HERD OF DEER ON THE ARPT THAT EVENING. I HAVE PERSONALLY SEEN LARGE NUMBERS OF DEER ON THE ARPT IN THE PAST. CONCLUSIONS/HUMAN FACTORS: I BELIEVE THAT THERE WAS AN ILS SYS FAILURE; MOST LIKELY FROM GND INTERFERENCE. I OBSERVED THE CONTRACT ARPT SECURITY VEHICLE COMING FROM THE AREA OF THE LOC ANTENNA WHEN I ROLLED OUT AFTER SUCCESSFULLY LNDG AFTER THE SECOND ILS APCH. THE OTHER POSSIBILITY IS INTERFERENCE FROM DEER; OR A COMBINATION OF BOTH. MY FRONT SEAT RATED PLT/PAX PROVIDED INDEPENDENT FEEDBACK THAT MY LOC WAS NEARLY CTRED; BUT SHE COULD NOT SEE THE GS INDICATOR FROM HER VANTAGE POINT. I FEEL THAT IT WAS NEARLY CTRED. I WAS UNABLE TO TURN ON THE APCH LIGHTS (ALSF) DURING BOTH APCHS. I DID TURN THEM ON JUST PRIOR TO SETTING DOWN AFTER THE SECOND APCH. I HAD HEARD 5 RADIO CLICKS DURING THE SECOND APCH; MAKING ME THINK THAT MY 5 CLICKS ON THE CTAF MAY HAVE TURNED THEM OFF AGAIN. THE PROB IS THAT THERE IS NOT A MECHANISM THAT I KNOW OF AT THIS ARPT TO VERIFY THE STATUS OF THE LIGHTS. ON VFR APCH TO AN ARPT THIS IS NOT A PROB; BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE THEM COME ON; BUT ON AN IFR/IMC APCH THIS IS NOT SATISFACTORY AND BLATANTLY UNSAFE; ALL TO SAVE ELECTRICITY I PRESUME. A HUMAN FACTOR IS FATIGUE; AS I WAS TIRED FROM 4.5 HRS OF INST FLYING. I WAS HOWEVER RECEIVING ASSISTANCE FROM MY R FRONT SEAT PAX/PLT WHO DID SOME OF THE ENRTE SECTION 91 FLYING; SOME OF THE RADIO COMS; ASSISTANCE WITH CHARTS.