An Alaska Airlines jet bound for Everett, Washington, was forced to abort takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday morning after hitting a bird, the airline announced.
Horizon Airlines Flight 2052 bound for Seattle Paine Field International Airport canceled its departure around 10:30 a.m. According to a LAX media liaison, the pilot left the runway and returned to the terminal.
“Passengers will be reassigned to other available aircraft,” the airline said in an email. “We apologize for any concern or inconvenience this experience may have caused.”
The aircraft is an Embraer E75 and can carry up to 76 passengers and 4 crew members. However, the airline is yet to confirm the number of passengers.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the bird strike. The FAA uses volunteer-based reporting to maintain a database that analyzes trends, wildlife movements, and bird movements.
According to its annual report published in June 2024, the agency expects wildlife strikes to increase in 2022-2023 as travel restrictions are lifted following the COVID-19 pandemic. A 14% increase was recorded.
Between 1990 and 2023, there were more than 290,000 attacks on wild animals in the United States. Over the past 34 years, approximately 651 different bird species have been confirmed to have been attacked by aircraft. The most frequently attacked birds were waterfowl, birds of prey, and gulls.
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