A Bear Tragedy: Brown Bear Hit by Airplane Landing in Alaskan Runway Gets Killed

A tragedy is hard to bear when a brown bear wandered into an airport runway unwittingly. The pilot landed the plane and struck the bear, killing it accidentally.

The aircraft landed after striking the adult brown bear which was killed instantly. Soon investigators checking the impact area discovered a cub they believe belonged to a sow.

When the plane was checked, they found out that the animal caused some damage to the plane. According to the officials on the scene, reported NBC News,

A check was done on the passengers, and crew after the accident. None were injured when the accident occurred in the Yakutat Airport in southeast Alaska. Reported the Anchorage Daily News.

Upon checking, the bear that died in the accident was a female, close by her cub estimated to be 24 months old is safe and uninjured. This was the statement of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesman Sam Dapcevich .

After the accident, Airport crew members took away the dead bear in 10 minutes. More flights were coming with the runways readied to avoid accidents. Sources say that the plane landed at night, followed night landing protocols with runway check as a standard operating procedure.

The airport crew checks the area for any signs of wild animals, it was clear. On the way down is when the pilots saw the adult and cub crossing. This all happened as the airliner slowed down on its way to landing.

Also read: US Navy 'Top Aggressor Squadron' to Get F-18 Super Hornets, Upgraded Variants of the F-18

Alaskan Airlines was quoted in a statement," "The nose gear missed the bears, but the captain felt an impact on the left side after the bears passed under the plane."

The number of passengers is unknown, during the flight. This plane came from Cordova, with a stop at Juneau, coming from Yakakut.

Other details from the accident

Upon checking the craft involved in the accident which had the left engine cover damage, the airliner stayed in Yakutat Sunday.

Alaskan Airlines said that the damaged part will be fixed by the maintenance techs to make it airworthy. Repair is expected to ground the plane for a few days.

After the runway as cleared by personnel of the bear carcass, Dapcevich added that the officers of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game will take the remains from them.

For passengers on the damaged flight, they were taken by flight 107 on a Saturday night to Anchorage. Alaska Airlines added that passengers got rebooked on available flights at anchorage.

Boundaries of Yakutat Airport is partially covered by a fence which allows wild animals to cross into. After the accident, the officials of the airport will let all affected airport personnel to train for such eventualities.

Instead of just relying on an ocular check of possible accidents the ground team will need specialized training. This would be learning a yearly wildlife hazard training that outlines methods and techniques with all animals. Preventing the same accident from happening again.

One example is the effective use of firecrackers to scare away wild animals from the airport runway. To help avoid more brown bear accidents on the runway.