The engine of a United flight that was forced to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport on Sunday caught fire midair after reportedly striking an animal.
“United 2325, it looks like you got, every once in awhile, little bursts of flame coming out the right engine,” somebody said over the radio in a .
“We think we lost our right motor,” a crew member on the plane replied.
The Canada-bound flight took off from DIA just after 7:20 p.m. Sunday. The crew was forced to divert back to the airport less than an hour later “to address a possible wildlife strike,” United spokesman Russell Carlton said.
None of the 153 passengers and six crew members were injured.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
Bird and wildlife strikes aren’t uncommon, . More than 290,000 strikes with aircraft in the U.S. were recorded between 1990 and 2023 — an average of roughly 8,800 per year.
During that same 33-year period, only 357 people were injured due to wildlife collisions with U.S. civil aircraft, according to the FAA.
