United Airlines plane hits into a coyote on the runway forcing flight back to Chicago airport

A United Airlines passenger jet struck a coyote on the runway during take-off in Chicago, forcing the flight to return to O'Hare International Airport to have the landing gear examined. None of the 167 passengers or six crew members aboard the Boeing 737 MAX 9 were injured in the incident on Sunday (Monday NZT), which forced the Phoenix-bound United Flight 1727 to make a swift return. “We arranged for another plane to take our customers to their destination later that afternoon,” the airline said. The FAA is investigating, saying on Thursday that the crew initially reported that the plane had struck a bird. Collisions between aircraft and wildlife are a growing concern for aviation safety, according to the FAA. The FAA said that between 1988 and 2023 wildlife strikes with civilian and military aircraft killed more than 491 people and destroyed more than 350 aircraft across the globe. In the United States, wildlife strikes with civilian and military aircraft killed 76 people and destroyed 126 aircraft between 1988-2023. Most collisions involve birds, but between 1990-2023 there were 882 reported civilian aircraft strikes with coyotes and 1301 with white-tailed deer in the US, according to the FAA.\<br/>