A plane was forced to turn around shortly after taking off from the airport. The reason: The plane had hit a coyote.

"We thought it was a joke at first," passenger Erin Drozda told 12 News.

A JetBlue plane took off from an airport in Providence, United States of America, on Tuesday with New York as the destination. Erin Drozda and her wife were on board.

"We heard a thud and then after the thud we took off anyway. We were up in the air for 10-15 minutes," says Drozda.

Then the pilot's voice was heard over the speakers:

– If anyone heard that thud, we hit a coyote.

The pilot then announced that the plane was ”returning” to the airport in Providence.

– We thought it was a joke at first. We thought: ”Is that code for something else, what’s going on?” We didn’t know because you never hear that, says Drozda.

”Everything was okay”

Passengers were allowed to disembark while airport staff checked the plane to see if it had been damaged in the collision with the coyote. 

“We got off the plane. After about that time they said everything was okay and we could go back on board,” says Drozda.

The plane landed in New York two hours later than scheduled. An airline spokesperson said the plane returned to the airport ”as a precaution following a report of contact between the aircraft’s landing gear and wildlife on the runway during takeoff.” The incident did not affect any other flights and no one was injured — except for the coyote.

Source: Expressen.se