JetBlue Flight Strikes Coyote on Takeoff From Rhode Island, Returns Safely

A JetBlue captain's voice broke through the cabin of Flight 1129 roughly 10 minutes into the climb toward New York: "This is the flight crew. If anybody heard that thud, we hit a coyote," the captain announced, according to passenger Erin Drozda of Woonsocket.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that JetBlue Flight 1129, an Airbus A320 heading to JFK International Airport in Queens, had to turn around because it hit a coyote upon takeoff. FlightAware data shows the flight departed T.F. Green International Airport at 6:16 a.m. and made a 24-minute loop across Rhode Island, reaching 3,700 feet and 247 mph before safely landing back at 6:40 a.m.

JetBlue said in a statement that Flight 1129, with service from Providence to New York, "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 airline added that "a full inspection was done on the aircraft with no issues reported."

Drozda, who was traveling with her wife, said the moment the captain's announcement came through, disbelief spread through the cabin. "We thought it was actually a joke at first. We were like, is that code for something else? What's going on? We didn't know," she said. She added: "We thought it was actually a prank to be honest with you, because I mean you don't ever hear that."

Upon landing, Drozda recalled: "As soon as we landed, we could see the fire department and all of the emergency crews on the runway waiting for us." Police and EMS came on board to make sure no one was hurt, and everyone had to get off the plane for a thorough inspection. Drozda said passengers "stayed inside for about another half hour or so, and then they told us that everything was OK and we were able to get back on the plane."

Reports differ on exactly how many people were aboard. NBC 10 affiliate Turnto10 reported the crew and 64 passengers had to turn around, while the New York Post put the number at 50 travelers. There were no immediate reports of injuries, nor was there a status update on the coyote.

The flight was originally scheduled to land at JFK at 7:10 a.m., but because of the delay, passengers did not arrive until after 9 a.m. Drozda and her wife missed their connecting flight to Costa Rica and rebooked for Wednesday. A T.F. Green spokesperson told CBS News the runway remained open and no other flights were affected.

The encounter fits a pattern the FAA tracks closely. The agency maintains a database of wildlife strikes, using voluntary reports from pilots, airlines, and air traffic control to analyze trends. Its annual wildlife strike report covers data from 1990 to 2024, and notes that an emergency landing is the most reported negative effect of such strikes. Coyotes and deer account for the majority of terrestrial mammal strikes, according to FAA data reported by NBC New York, with birds remaining the most commonly struck animals overall during arrivals and departures.

T.F. Green is not unfamiliar with the hazard. A traveler at the airport, Shannon Razsadin, recalled her own brush with the problem: "Two years ago, I was on a flight out of T.F. Green and we hit a buzzard, so we had to make an emergency landing." The airport participated in a request for proposals for wildlife control services in 2022, though airport management did not respond to questions about the outcome of that effort or whether a coyote had ever been struck there before. In January, a United Airlines flight struck a coyote on departure from O'Hare in Chicago; passengers on that flight were forced to board a different aircraft entirely.

For Flight 1129, the ending was smoother: a cleared plane, no injuries, and an eventual departure for New York, arriving more than two hours behind schedule.