American Alligator Mortality's Boletim

Plane hits, kills 500-pound alligator at Orlando Executive Airport
Adrienne Cutway, Web Editor
Published: June 7, 2017
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2017/06/07/plane-hits-kills-500-pound-alligator-at-orlando-executive-airport/

A local pilot received this picture of a gator that was fatally struck by a plane at Orlando Executive Airport. Photo courtesy of Brad Pierce.

ORLANDO, Fla. – What should have been a smooth landing turned scaly when a pilot at Orlando Executive Airport hit an 11-foot alligator that was crossing the runway. Local pilot Brad Pierce posted a photo to Facebook on Tuesday, showing the lifeless reptile and explaining the information he was given about the incident. "I was told the pilot was flying a Navajo and the gator jumped up and struck the wing during his landing. The gator was killed instantly and the aircraft sustained damage to the wing," Pierce wrote. Pierce's post has been shared more than 2,000 times.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority said a Piper PA 31 was landing around 2:15 a.m. on Thursday when the plane fatally struck the 11-foot, 500-pound reptile. The gator was killed on impact. The pilot wasn't injured but the aircraft did sustain some damage. Traffic at the airport was not impacted after the collision or when a trapper removed the animal.

The last time a plane in Florida hit an alligator was in 2013 at Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, according to the Federal Aviation Authority wildlife strike database. Locally, an alligator was struck at Orlando International Airport on Sept. 12, 2012. Four total plane versus alligator collisions have been reported at OIA since 1998, the FAA reported.

Crash with alligator sends woman’s car into wipeout on I-75
By Jorge Milian
Posted May 18, 2017
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/local/just-crash-with-alligator-sends-woman-car-into-wipeout/KKiolQJhrRIluKI5DfoCjO/

Jennifer Rosinski survived a deadly encounter with an alligator Tuesday night. The 34-year-old attorney’s confrontation with the 9-foot reptile didn’t come deep in the Everglades or on the edge of a backyard lake, but on northbound Interstate 75 near North Port in Sarasota County.

At about 9:15 p.m., Rosinski saw what she initially thought was a fox bolt in front of her vehicle. Rosinski had no chance to avoid the collision, sending the Ford Escape into a counter-clockwise spin before overturning at least a half-dozen times. “I’ve never been in a significant accident before, and the first one I’m in is car vs. alligator,” said Rosinski, a mother of four and a resident of Cooper City in Broward County. Rosinski, miraculously, survived with a cut under her right eye and some bruising. The gator wasn’t so lucky. Photos taken at the scene show the animal was likely struck on the front end of its body resulting in gruesome damage.

The Ford Escape, a company car owned by Rosinski’s employer, was destroyed. A Florida Highway Patrol trooper told Rosinski the vehicle likely went airborne before it began rolling. Rosinski escaped the vehicle with the help of bystanders by crawling out the vehicle’s rear door. That she lived through the death-defying crash wasn’t nearly as shocking to Rosinski as what caused it.

“I was like, ‘An alligator? What the hell?’ ” Rosinski said. “Who knew?”