A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Phoenix was forced to make a dramatic return to O’Hare International Airport this weekend after its landing gear struck a coyote during takeoff.
United Airlines flight returns to O'Hare after hitting coyote during takeoff https://t.co/ymN7M2m23y
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United Flight 1727, scheduled to fly from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, took off at around 10:45 a.m., during which time it hit the coyote.
According to reports, a total of 167 passengers and six crew members were on board at the time of the incident.
The Boeing 737 MAX 9, safely returned to O’Hare for examination after the incident, according to airport officials.
Airline personnel arranged for another aircraft to take travelers to their destination later the same afternoon, according to reports.
However, no other information was released.
While it seems very out of the ordinary, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) noted there have been about 310,000 reports of wildlife strikes involving civil aircraft in the U.S. between 1990 and 2023, per a database maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
According to the data, birds account for the vast majority of those strikes, while thousands of others have been attributed to flying mammals (specifically bats) and terrestrial animals including rabbits or deer.
Coyotes, specifically, accounted for 824 of strikes between 1990 and 2022, the data indicated.