February 16, 2025
United Airlines Flight Suffers Collision with Coyote in Chicago

United Airlines Flight Suffers Collision with Coyote in Chicago

On January 12th, a United Airlines flight suffered a collision with a Coyote during it's departure out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
Dylan T, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

On January 12th, a United Airlines flight suffered a collision with a Coyote during it’s departure out of Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

Information has been released pertinent to the incident at hand.

Without further ado, let’s get into it…

United Airlines Flight UA1727 – Chicago to Phoenix…


On January 12th, a United Airlines flight suffered a collision with a Coyote during it's departure out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
Data Provided by AirNav Radar.

United Airlines flight UA1727, which suffered the collision with a coyote, is a routine scheduled flight between Chicago and Phoenix.

Furthermore, the aircraft involved in the incident was N37507.

As per data from Planespotters.net, N37507 is a 6.3 year old Boeing 737 MAX 9 that was delivered to the airline in September 2018.

Of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 variant, United Airlines has 85 units of the type.

Moreover, of the 85, all but three are in active service, with an average fleet age of 3.2 years.

As well as the 737 MAX 9, United Airlines has the following other aircraft in their fleet:

  • 81 Airbus A319s.
  • 78 Airbus A320s.
  • 29 Airbus A321 Family aircraft.
  • 437 additional other Boeing 737 Family aircraft.
  • 61 Boeing 757s.
  • 53 Boeing 767s.
  • 96 Boeing 777s.
  • 74 Boeing 787s.

In total, the airline has 994 aircraft in their fleet, with 944 of them in active service currently.

Around 50 are currently parked up or undergoing maintenance.

United Airlines flight UA1727, which suffered the coyote collision, departed Chicago at 1005 local time on January 12.

As per The Aviation Herald, this incident took place during the takeoff roll.

From there, the aircraft continued to climb up to 6,000 feet.

Following that climb, the aircraft made a u-turn back to the airport.

United Airlines flight UA1727, originally bound for Phoenix, landed safely back into Chicago at 1054 local time.

Aircraft Grounded Following the Collision with the Coyote…


Konstantin von Wedelstaedt (GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html or GFDL 1.2 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html), via Wikimedia Commons

The FAA reported that United Airlines flight UA1727 suffered minor damage to the right hand nose gear as a result of the coyote collision in Chicago.

Despite this, the aircraft was only grounded for around four hours.

With the damage being minor, this was a relatively quick fix for maintenance technicians.

Following the repairs, the aircraft has since operated the following flights as per AirNav Radar:

  • UA1502 – Chicago to Raleigh.
  • UA2478 – Raleigh to Newark.
  • UA1671 – Newark to Atlanta.
  • UA243 – Atlanta to Newark.
  • UA1021 – Newark to Tocumen.

No images have surfaced following the incident, but with the FAA confirming this, it is a unique incident.

All eyes will now turn to how the coyote got onto the active runway, causing the collision involving United Airlines flight UA1727 in Chicago.

Once that has been identified, then the relevant remedies can be made to bolster such security.

At this stage, the condition of the coyote is not known, and is presumed dead following the collision.

A collision at takeoff speeds would have been substantial to the animal.

As soon as we have more information pertinent to this, then we will update you accordingly.

Stay tuned to the AviationSource website for more updates in due course.

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