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A JetBlue flight reportedly hit a coyote during takeoff at T.F. Green Airport
The captain told passengers, "This is the flight crew. If anybody heard that thud, we hit a coyote," according to a report.
A JetBlue flight reportedly hit a coyote during takeoff at Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport on Tuesday.
The Airbus A320, destined for New York’s JFK International Airport, turned around “out of an abundance of caution” and returned to the Warwick airport so a maintenance crew could check the plane, according to JetBlue.
According to the flight tracking service FlightAware, the flight took off at 6:16 a.m. and landed back at T.F. Green Airport at 6:40 a.m.
“We were up in the air for about 10-15 minutes and then all of a sudden the captain came on and said, ‘This is the flight crew. If anybody heard that thud, we hit a coyote,'” Erin Drozda from Woonsocket told WBZ-TV.
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Drozda told the news station that passengers deplaned for an inspection after police and EMS boarded the flight to check for injuries.
JetBlue provided the following statement about the incident:
On Tuesday, March 24 JetBlue flight 1129 with service from Providence (PVD) to New York (JFK) returned to Providence out of an abundance of caution following a report of contact between the aircraft’s landing gear and wildlife on the runway while taking off. The flight landed safely and a full inspection was done on the aircraft with no issues reported. The flight later continued to JFK without further incident.
After the plane was checked and cleared, it took off at 8:23 a.m. and landed at JFK International Airport at 9:06 a.m. An airport spokesperson told WBZ-TV that the runway remained open and the incident did not impact other flights.
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