A wildlife strike is a collision between an animal and an aircraft which is in flight or on a take-off or landing roll. Wildlife strikes may occur during any phase of flight but are most likely during the take-off, initial climb, approach and landing phases.

Effects
Wildlife strikes can be a significant threat to safety of aircraft. The impact of wildlife strike has been experienced to cause:
• Cracked or broken windshield and consequently, depressurization and possibly pilot injury.
• Engine failure due to ingestion, resulting in aborted take-off or emergency landing.
• Structural damage to the fuselage, control surfaces or landing gear.

Defences
The defences against animal strike include measures to:
• Perimeter fencing to make the aerodrome inaccessible to non-flying animals as well as measures to make it less attractive to birds.
• Observation of the manoeuvring area for birds and other animals and provision of information to flight crews. Information may be passed by the controller or using ATIS or BIRDTAM.

A Boeing 747 en route from New York JFK to Liege, Belgium, was forced to turn around on November 9 after a horse got loose in the cargo hold.
The cargo flight operated by charter airline Air Atlanta Icelandic had climbed to around 31,000 feet when the crew contacted Air Traffic Control in Boston to report that the horse had escaped from its stall.
The pilots requested to return to JFK Airport and, because the plane was too heavy, to dump 20 tons of fuel. The pilots also asked for a veterinarian to meet the plane upon landing.
The plane was able to take off again some three hours behind schedule. It landed in Liege at 6.49 a.m. local time on the morning of November 10.
This incident is one of the biggest-hitters when it comes to animals escaping on planes, but critter problems are surprisingly common in the air.

Volotea A319 at Milan on Jul 8th 2025, performing flight from Milan Bergamo to Asturias, had been pushed back, engines were started and the aircraft had just begun taxiing, when a man ran in front of the aircraft, was ingested by the left hand engine and was killed.
Italian media report that the man was neither passenger nor ground worker, but may have got airside access through a security door at the baggage claim area and was chased by police when he ran in front of the engine, however, police was not able to catch him in time.The airport was closed for about 2 hours as a result of the accident.

The American Airlines flight AA 1847 from San Juan to Dallas made an emergency return after a passenger misinterpreted a fellow traveler’s text message as a bomb threat.

A passenger observed another traveler’s phone displaying “RIP”. He feared it indicated a bomb threat, reported it to the cabin crew, prompting immediate action.

The pilots called air traffic controllers and explained that they were unsure if the threat was real but wanted to return. The captain diverted back to San Juan, the aircraft landed 32 minutes after takeoff. The aircraft eventually reached its destination with all 193 passengers safely arriving in Dallas after a lengthy delay, without any other difficulties.

Fortunately, this case turned out to be simply a confusion, and there was never a danger to the plane or anyone aboard. The airline later confirmed the incident was a non-credible threat.

ICAO has defined four level threats. They provide valuable guidance to operators in determining the seriousness of an unruly passenger incident and in developing their policies on appropriate level of response. The ICAO level of threat specifics are as follows:

Level 1 — Disruptive behavior (verbal);
Level 2 — Physically abusive behavior;
Level 3 — Life-threatening behavior (or display of a weapon);
Level 4 — Attempted or actual breach of the flight crew compartment.

A JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 operating flight from Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) to Orlando International Airport (MCO) was forced to divert after suffering a serious engine failure shortly after takeoff on August 13, 2025.
The aircraft lost its right-hand engine during initial climb. The crew declared an emergency and coordinated with air traffic control to divert safely to JFK, where emergency services confirmed the engine was completely destroyed.

Pilot: JetBlue 547, we need to make a return to the field, just lost an engine, declaring emergency, standby.
ATC: Roger, if you can, make right traffic runway for RW 24, maintain visual.
Pilot: Right traffic 24, unable visual, above the clouds, JetBlue 547.
ATC: Roger, fuel remaining and souls on board.
Pilot: Fuel remaining 22,7 and souls on board 167.
ATC: What’s the nature of emergency?
Pilot: Engine failure.
ATC: JetBlue 547, RW 24, you are cleared to land, wind 200 at 12 gusting 17. We’ll have trucks out.
Pilot: Copy, JetBlue 547, we’ll need radar vectors until we run some checklist, JetBlue 547.
ATC: 547, you want radar vectors?
Pilot: Affirmative.
ATC: JetBlue 547, roger, turn right heading 330 for now and then 060 on the downwind.
Pilot: Right 330 and stand by on that, JetBlue 547.
ATC: JetBlue 547, you want Departure to work you in on the heading or you want me to do it?
Pilot: Actually, if we go to Departure, we’re gonna divert to JFK, JetBlue 547.
ATC: No problem. Contact Departure 120.05.
Pilot: 120.05, JetBlue 547.