Footage Shows Alaska Airlines Flight Strike Multiple Deer While Landing, Damages Aircraft | JP
An Alaska Airlines flight struck at least two deer while landing Thursday morning at Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport.
Alaska Airlines flight 231, a Boeing 737, made the 39-minute flight from Anchorage and landed approximately 8 a.m.
Footage shows the aircraft striking the deer:
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 struck three deer while landing at Kodiak Airport on Thursday morning, damaging the aircraft’s landing gear and prompting the cancellation of all scheduled passenger flights for the remainder of the day.
The incident occurred around 8 a.m. as the… pic.twitter.com/i1k9WSImWK
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) July 25, 2025
“An inspection found damage to the aircraft’s main landing gear that will require repairs in Kodiak,” a spokesperson said, according to CNN.
“Passenger flights to and from Kodiak were then canceled for the rest of Thursday and guests were rebooked on other flights,” the spokesperson added.
Additional footage:
An Alaska Airlines flight hit at least two out of three deer while landing at Kodiak Airport, (ADQ), United States on Thursday morning, damaging the aircraft’s landing gear but causing no injuries to the occupants. The condition of the two deer is not known at this time.
The… pic.twitter.com/C2HbE9vIH7
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) July 25, 2025
More from CNN:
Air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net recorded the pilots noticing animals as they came in for landing.
“There is deer on the runway,” the pilot told air traffic control shortly after he was cleared to land, according to audio from LiveATC.net.
“Roger, do you have an idea of where they are at currently,” the tower responded.
“The intersection,” the pilot responded.
The airport closed the runway for a short time while crews cleared the remains, finding at least two carcasses.
People often watch landing and departing flights from Kodiak Benny Benson State Airport at nearby Beacon Hill.
Alaska’s News Source provided an eyewitness account:
Edwards’ husband Graham said filming friends and family’s flights landing is something he and his wife often enjoy doing.
But out of all the times they’ve filmed various flights, the footage from this particular flight on Thursday morning captured a little more than they were expecting — and a little more than they were even first aware of.
Graham said at the time they were filming, they had no idea the deer were on the runway at all.
It wasn’t until they were sitting inside the terminal waiting for Graham’s sister Victoria and her family to get off the plane when they heard the announcement of an animal strike.
“We just thought, ‘Ah it must have been a bird,’” Graham Edwards said. “And then we started overhearing it was a deer and I thought, ‘Well, let me look.’ And we played the video back, and holy smokes, there it is, man! Just right in front of her face!”
A total of three deer reportedly crossed onto the runway, with only one walking away to tell the tale.
Erin said that despite the deer not initially being seen, to some extent, they still were heard.
“There was a noise outside, we even heard it,” Erin Edwards said. “We just thought it was maybe the landing gear or something like that that we hadn’t heard before.”
As for what things were like on the plane, Victoria and Ryan Walton were visiting Kodiak with their son and daughter for the first time. They described the landing that day as being especially abrupt, leaving them to wonder if maybe the Kodiak Airport’s runway was just shorter than most.
Alaska’s News Source provided additional coverage:
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