What happened
On March 31, 2015, the crew of an Embraer 195 LR (E190) reported a potential collision with a hare in the touchdown zone of runway 33 at Warsaw Chopin Airport (EPWA). Following the report, the Tower Controller notified the Duty Operations Manager (DOP) of the potential hazard.
While the DOP requested permission to inspect the runway for animal remains, this request was initially not granted due to the high volume of landing traffic. Once permission was eventually obtained, the DOP inspected the runway and found no evidence of any animal remains. During the interval before the inspection could be completed, three additional aircraft landed on the unverified runway.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the handling of the report by air traffic management services. Investigators found that while reports for two separate incidents occurring around the same time were submitted, only the audio-video recordings for the earlier incident were secured. The recordings for the E1190 incident were not preserved because investigators mistakenly assumed both reports pertained to the same event. This error was further compounded by the fact that the crew's report of a hare could have been confused with a separate, earlier report of a bird strike involving a B738.
Due to the absence of radio and telephone correspondence recordings for the 19:34 UTC report, the investigation could not definitively confirm the details of the event, leading to its classification as an unverified potential incident.