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It is not uncommon for planes to strike wildlife, but most episodes don’t result in deaths or serious injuries.
- Dec. 29, 2024, 2:42 p.m. ET
After a plane crashed as it was landing in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179 of the 181 people on board, officials said they were investigating possible causes including a landing gear malfunction and a bird strike.
While it is not uncommon for planes to strike wildlife, most episodes don’t result in deaths or serious injuries.
Still, from 1988 through 2023, wildlife strikes involving civilian and military aircraft killed 76 people in the United States, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report published in June. Most of those strikes involved birds, but the F.A.A.’s definition of a wildlife strike also includes coyotes, deer and bats.
In the United States in 2023, 19,603 wildlife strikes were reported, which averages out to about 54 strikes each day, according to the aviation administration’s report. Of those strikes, 3.6 percent caused damage.
Here are some notable episodes when a bird strike was found to have contributed to an aviation accident.
A Boeing 737 Max Crash in Ethiopia
The March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which killed all 157 people on board, happened less than five months after another Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
