WCNC-TV, Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An American Airlines flight leaving Charlotte hit a deer while attempting to take off Wednesday, sustaining damage that forced it to return to the airport so that passengers could switch planes.

Flight 5320, bound for Gulfport, Miss., hit a deer on takeoff and then immediately returned for landing, according to American Airlines officials. Officials say the plane was leaking fuel after the collision.

Officials say 44 passengers were on the plane. All of the passengers were safely removed from the plane, according to American Airlines. The airline said the passengers were taken back to the terminal and will be put on a new plane.

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Charlotte Douglas tweeted that the damaged plane had been removed from the airfield and that the runway was back open just after 2 p.m.

Passenger Antonio Bucca was on the plane at the time

"We were just taking off and it kind of sounded like a tire popped almost," he said. "We ended up taking off and then they said we had to come back because we hit a deer."

Bucca says when they came back down they did a fly-by of the scene.

"When we came down, there were ambulances, fire trucks, cops, helicopters and they hosed down our plane," Bucca said. "After they hosed it down they brought us in and gave us food and now we're just waiting to see when we can get our bags."

Bucca said he couldn't see much damage when he got off the flight.

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts tweeted after the incident, saying she was thankful the plane was able to make a safe landing after the collision.

American Airlines released the following statement :

"American Airlines flight 5320, operated by PSA Airlines, hit a deer upon takeoff from Charlotte Douglas International Airport at approximately 12:15 p.m. It was a CRJ-700 with 44 passengers and 4 crew on board headed to Gulfport, Mississippi (GPT). The airplane came immediately back to the airport and landed safely. There was fuel leaking from the aircraft, so passengers deplaned on the runway and fire trucks did hose the plane down. The passengers have been bused back to the terminal and will get a new aircraft."

Several incoming and departing flights were delayed as a result of the collision.

In a similar incident in 2010, a Boeing 737 operated by US Airways was leaving Charlotte for Miami when it struck a deer near the end of a runway.

According to the FAA, over 1,100 deer-aircraft collisions happened between 1990 and 2015. Of those reports, 932 of the deer strikes resulted in damaged aircraft.