On Sunday, a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 collided with an animal while taking off from Denver International Airport. A dramatic video captures the aftermath.
“Every once in a while a little burst of flame (is) coming out the right engine,” air traffic control cautioned the pilots, according to audio collected by the website LiveATC.net.
“Yeah, affirm, we think we lost our right motor,” the pilot said.
United Flight 2325 took off Sunday from Denver for Edmonton, Canada, with 153 passengers and six crew members on board.
The crew reported striking an animal while taking off, according to an FAA statement. They did not identify the animal, however rabbits were seen on the runway at the time of the event.
“Use caution for rabbit activity,” the control tower told numerous pilots. “A rabbit was reported… heading towards your runway.,”
“We might have ran them over,” a different United pilot radioed the tower.
“We’re bigger than them, though,” a Frontier pilot quipped.
But that wasn’t a joke for United 2325.
“We are dealing with getting word that there is fire on our wing,” the pilot of United 2325 said after declaring an emergency and announcing plans to circle and return to the airport.
According to Denver Airport Public Information Officer Keylen Villagrana, the fire vehicles reacted in accordance with established protocol.
“I just want to make sure they have the emergency gear rolled out for us,” the pilot told air traffic controllers. “If you guys could check out the right-side flaps, wheel area, all of that good stuff and let us know if there is a fire.”
The plane eventually taxied to the gate, where passengers boarded a replacement plane to Edmonton.
Last year, aircraft struck animals at Denver International Airport over 800 times. The majority of the crashes were birds, such as bald eagles, owls, larks, and mallards, but several also involved prairie dogs, bats, coyotes, and rabbits.