An 
Alaska Airlines flight was forced to abort its takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Tuesday morning after a bird strike occurred on the runway. When the bird strike incident occurred, the flight crew decided to cancel Horizon Air, Alaska Airlines’ regional subsidiary. Flight AS2052, operated by an Embraer E175, was headed to Everett, Washington, on a scheduled trip to Seattle Paine Field International Airport.
The aircraft, registered as N628QX, was preparing for takeoff around 10:30 local time when it struck the bird, prompting the flight crew to reject the departure. From fligtradar 24, the aircraft showed to reject its takeoff. The incident took place on Runway 24L at Los Angeles Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world.
Photo: Ian Dewar Photography | Shutterstock
Bird strike accident led to plane swap
The LA Times reported that according to a Los Angeles Airport media liaison, the pilots cleared the runway and returned to the terminal. The airline made arrangements to accommodate passengers on a replacement plane, offering an apology for the disruption.
“We are swapping guests to another available aircraft,” the airline said in an email statement to the LA Times. “We apologize for any concern or inconvenience this experience may have caused.”
The replacement aircraft, another E175 registered as N629QX, departed Los Angeles at approximately 13:30 local time, three hours behind the original schedule. Passengers aboard the rescheduled flight eventually arrived at their destination—Snohomish County Airport (PAE) in Everett—at 15:52, nearly four hours later than initially planned, data from Flight Aware shows.
While the exact details of the bird strike remain unclear, the fact that the original aircraft, N628QX, operated a flight to Las Vegas later that evening suggests that the damage was minimal and did not significantly impact the plane’s ability to continue its operations. The aircraft is 7.4 years old, according to the data on Planespotters.net.
A closer look at Alaska’s E175
The Embraer E175, operated by Horizon Air, is a regional jet with a seating capacity for 76 passengers, configured with 12 first-class seats, 12 premium economy seats, and 52 standard economy seats. This aircraft is commonly used on shorter domestic routes, offering a balance of comfort and efficiency for regional travel. Alaska Airlines’ website states that the airline owns 86 Embraer 175 aircraft with an average age of 5.5 years, including 44 E173s operated by Horizaon Air and 42 by Skywest Airlines.
Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the bird strike as part of its ongoing efforts to monitor wildlife-related incidents. The FAA tracks wildlife strikes through a voluntary reporting system, which helps assess trends in wildlife movements and bird migration patterns to improve aviation safety.
According to the FAA’s recent annual report, there has been an increase in wildlife strikes, with a 14% spike in collisions between birds and wildlife between 2022 and 2023. The resumption of air travel following the removal of pandemic-related restrictions is partially responsible for this increase. In the United States, almost 290,000 wildlife attacks were documented between 1990 and 2023. Simple Flying also reported on similar incidents.
