Reports of planes colliding with wildlife increasing at Florida airports

The list of animals hit by airplanes in Florida so far this year reads like a tragic version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”: five opossums, four iguanas, three turtles, two alligators and a coyote on a runway that, luckily, narrowly missed meeting with a 737 landing in Tampa.

Other strange terrestrials have found their way in the paths of planes in recent years, including snakes, deer, foxes, armadillos, raccoons and cats as reports of wildlife strikes continue to rise in the state, according to the latest data from the Federal Aviation Administration. It ends badly for animals when they’re hit by a plane that weighs over 100,000 pounds traveling 170 mph down a runway.

Last year, Florida plane strikes with all species reached the highest number in the FAA database’s history, which stretches back to 1990, at 1,717 reports. So far, this year’s count is 833, of which nearly all are birds — an expectation in the aviation industry.

The number of strikes with ground animals has increased since the government began tracking them. No strikes involving animals besides birds were reported in 1990. Compare that to 43 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 40 last year and 24 through August of this year, according to the latest figures.

This year’s incidents include a small private jet at the regional airport in Gainesville — college hometown to the Florida Gators — that hit an alligator one night while taxiing in July. The same month, a United Airlines 737 hit another alligator while taxiing at Orlando International Airport and returned to the terminal.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/12/21/reports-planes-colliding-with-wildlife-increasing-florida-airports/