KEY POINTS

  • An Alaskan Airlines flight landing at Yakutat Airport ran over a bear, sustaining minor damage and killing the bear. None of the passengers were harmed
  • It's unclear how the two bears on the tarmac gained access, as there is a fence surrounding the landing strip and workers are trained to chase them off with fireworks and vehicles
  • It's not the only strange animal-plane impact in the state: in 1987 a plane impacted with a fish mid-flight

An Alaskan Airlines flight struck and killed a brown bear Saturday evening on its landing in Yakutat, Alaska.

The six passengers aboard the Boeing 737 plane were not injured, according to CNN. The collision damaged the left engine cowl of the plane.

It’s the first reported collision between a bear and a plane in the state.

The flight crew pointed out the two bears on the runway as they were landing at Yakutat Airport. While the wheel at the front of the plane missed the animals, a bump was felt as a rear-wheel impacted one of the bears.

The bear's body was recovered and stored in a nearby warehouse for proper disposal by Alaska’s department of fish and wildlife. Sam Dapcevich, a public information officer for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, said the incident was highly unusual.

"It's a rare occurrence for something like this to happen," Dapcevich told CNN. "I've been in Alaska my whole life and we've had aircraft strike birds and other animals ... but this is the first instance of a bear that I've ever heard of."

It is unclear how the bears got onto the tarmac, as the property is surrounded by fencing and employees are trained to fend off wildlife with pyrotechnics and vehicles. A pair of bears had been seen before, listed as a cub and mother. Crews clearing snow earlier hadn’t reported any wildlife.

It isn’t the first time Alaskan Airlines has had an unusual collision with an animal. In 1987, a flight reported a midair collision when an eagle dropped a salmon, which hit the cockpit window.

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