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Boeing 757 returns to Manchester after double bird strike

30/04/2007

A passenger aircraft at Manchester Airport had to make an emergency landing yesterday morning after two herons were sucked into one of its engines.

The pilot of the Thomson Fly Boeing 757, which had just left Manchester for Lanzarote, had to shut down the engine, send out a distress call and dump excess fuel before landing back in Manchester.

According to an airport spokesman, the birds were sucked into the starboard engine, causing flames to issue from the plane, although the engine itself did not catch fire.

"Within minutes of being in the air, the plane suffered a double bird strike," the spokesman said.

"The aircraft's engines are designed to cope with bird strikes but because this case involved two very large birds being sucked in at once there were problems."

Although nobody was injured in the incident, it has been estimated by the Bird Strike Committee USA that nearly 200 passengers and aircrew have been killed a result of wildlife strikes in the past 20 years.


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