MORRISVILLE, N.C. — A plane landed safely Tuesday night at Raleigh-Durham International Airport after hitting a coyote.
Southwest Airlines Flight 1221 was headed to Chicago Midway International Airport but was forced to turn around just minutes after takeoff Tuesday night.
In a radio communication obtained by WRAL News, the pilot told the air traffic control tower he “maybe hit an animal. We hit it pretty much on the center line.”
A spokesperson from the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane hit a coyote while departing from RDU.
Flight trackers showed that the plane had taken off and returned a short time later. It landed safely at 8 p.m.
WRAL News reached out to Southwest Airlines for comment and to find out what type of damage, if any, the plane suffered and to find out how many people were on board.
The Southwest Airlines website indicates the plane took off safely for the second time and headed for Chicago.
Plane diverted to ILM after security threat
In Wilmington Tuesday night, a flight from Toronto to the Dominican Republic made an emergency landing after the crew reported a passenger disturbance and a security threat.
RDU tries to keep animals off the airport
In 2010, a spokesperson from RDU explained the precautions the airport takes to prevent incidents like this from happening.
“The airport authority does have a wildlife management program in place, and we do implement that every year, every day,” a spokesperson said.
The policy includes checking the fence lines for signs of digging and keeping the grass cut low to discourage rodents and other animals coyotes would feed on.
Through November, the airport had recorded 37 instances of planes hitting wildlife, most of them birds. Only one – a plane that hit a turkey vulture – involved minor damage.
Since 2003, the FAA has received seven reports of planes hitting coyotes at RDU.
Animals hit by planes at RDU
37 wildlife strikes in 2022 through Nov. 30
42 wildlife strikes in 2021
34 wildlife strikes in 2020
41 wildlife strikes in 2019
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)