ANIMAL CROSSING

Boeing Plane Makes Emergency Landing After Hitting Coyote

No passengers or crew were injured on the Phoenix-bound Boeing plane.

A United Airlines flight was forced to turn back around after hitting a coyote during takeoff.

None of the 167 passengers or six crew members were injured, but the Boeing plane had to quickly turn back around to Chicago O’Hare Airport to check the landing gear.

“We arranged for another plane to take our customers to their destination later that afternoon,” the airline said.

The flight was headed towards Phoenix on Sunday.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that between 1988 and 2023, wildlife collisions have killed 76 people and destroyed 126 in the United States.

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Leigh Kimmins

Most wildlife collisions involve birds. The FAA said Thursday that the United flight’s crew originally reported a bird strike.

In the deadly South Korea plane crash in December, the crew was warned of a bird strike minutes before the plane erupted in flames.

Still, there were 882 collisions between coyotes and civilian aircrafts from 1988 to 2023.

Officials said that coyotes are more active from January to March, which is during their mating season.

The next day, on Monday, a coyote was reported inside a grocery store in Chicago and had to be removed by authorities.