A JetBlue Airbus A320 lifted off the Rhode Island runway Tuesday morning – and immediately hit something nobody expected.
The plane kept climbing, and for a while nobody said a word about it.
What the captain announced next stopped the entire cabin cold.
The Announcement That Stopped the Flight Cold
At 6:16 a.m., JetBlue Flight 1129 roared down the runway at T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, bound for JFK.
During the takeoff roll, the Airbus A320's landing gear made direct contact with a coyote that had wandered onto the active runway.
The gear made contact, the plane kept climbing, and for the next ten to fifteen minutes nobody said a word about it.
Then the captain came on.
"This is the flight crew," he announced. "If anybody heard that thud – we hit a coyote. We're on our way back to Providence."
Passenger Erin Drozda of Woonsocket had heard the thud.
She did not believe what she was hearing.
"We thought it was actually a joke at first," Drozda told WPRI-TV. "We were like, is that code for something else? What's going on? We didn't know."
She added: "You don't ever hear that."
This Isn't as Rare as You Think
The FAA confirmed the strike involving the Airbus A320.
JetBlue said the crew turned back after the landing gear reportedly made contact with wildlife on the runway, and that the plane landed safely with no damage found. The plane took off again just after 8:30 a.m. and landed at JFK at 9:06 a.m. – more than two hours behind schedule.
Drozda missed a connecting flight to Costa Rica and rebooked for the following day.
Airport spokesman Bill Fischer confirmed no injuries were reported to passengers or crew.
The runway stayed open. No other flights were impacted.
What the passengers on Flight 1129 experienced was bizarre – but it was not unprecedented.
In December 2024, a United Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 hit a coyote during takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare and had to turn back with 167 passengers aboard.
In 2022, a Southwest Airlines flight out of Raleigh-Durham hit a coyote on departure and returned for inspection.
Coyotes showing up on runways is now a documented pattern – not a freak accident.
America's Runways Have a Coyote Problem
Between 1990 and 2024, the FAA recorded 932 incidents of civilian aircraft making contact with coyotes.
That works out to an average of more than 27 incidents per year – and the numbers are trending upward.
The FAA ranks white-tailed deer and coyotes as the most frequently struck non-bird species at American airports.
Wildlife strikes overall killed 76 people and destroyed 126 aircraft in the United States between 1988 and 2023.
The reason coyotes are showing up on runways more often comes down to something simple: they live near airports now.
Coyotes have expanded aggressively into urban and suburban environments across the country.
The flat, open green space around airport perimeters looks exactly like the habitat they seek out.
During mating season – January through March – coyotes are at their most active and most likely to roam into unfamiliar territory.
Flight 1129 departed T.F. Green on March 24.
Right in the middle of mating season.
A traveler at T.F. Green, Shannon Razsadin, told local reporters she had been on a flight from the same airport two years earlier that hit a buzzard and required an emergency landing.
T.F. Green is not new to wildlife on the runway.
Some airports have started experimenting with solutions beyond fencing and habitat management.
In 2024, Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska began trialing a four-legged robotic dog named Aurora – designed to mimic coyote and fox behavior – to patrol the runway perimeter and drive wildlife away from active taxiways.
Tuesday's Flight 1129 ended well.
Everyone landed safely.
The plane flew again.
Somewhere on the outskirts of Warwick, Rhode Island, a coyote is having a much better Tuesday than it deserves.
Sources:
- Anna Young, "JetBlue flight bound for JFK strikes coyote on Rhode Island runway during takeoff," New York Post, March 24, 2026.
- "JetBlue flight returns to Rhode Island airport after hitting coyote on runway," Fox Business, March 25, 2026.
- "JetBlue flight returns to R.I. airport after striking animal on departure," Boston Globe, March 24, 2026.
- "JetBlue flight strikes coyote on runway, returns to TF Green Airport," WJAR NBC 10, March 24, 2026.
- "Coyote strike on the runway forces United Airlines flight back to Chicago's O'Hare," Fox Illinois, December 12, 2024.
- Federal Aviation Administration, "Frequently Asked Questions and Answers," faa.gov.
Related posts:
Tourist ignored safety warnings for one selfie that left him trampled and half-naked
This giant Alaska bear has been trying to win for three years and just pulled off one major victory
Rescue Team Discovered What 11 Dogs Built Inside Abandoned Hoarding House That Left Everyone Speechless
