Birmingham Airport closed after private jet forced to make emergency landing

In Birmingham, all departures and arrivals were suspended until 5:30 PM after a twin-engine Beech King Air aircraft, used by the air ambulance service, declared an emergency during flight. One person reportedly sustained minor injuries, UNN writes, citing Telegraph.

Details

The aircraft, which was en route to Belfast, turned back to land in Birmingham, and photos show it near the main runway with what appears to be collapsed landing gear. Emergency crews are working at the scene.

Flight Radar 24 data indicates that the aircraft that made the emergency landing was a Beech King Air 200. This is the same type of aircraft that crashed at Southend Airport in July, killing all four people on board.

The Beech King Air on the Birmingham runway is operated by Woodgate Aviation, a private charter operator from Northern Ireland.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the aircraft is 44 years old, registered as G-NIAA, and owned by Bluesky Investments Ltd. from the Isle of Man. The company declined to comment by phone.

It is unknown how many people were on board the aircraft, although King Airs typically carry at least two pilots.

The airport was closed due to an "incident," according to an official notice to aviators issued at 2:14 PM. The notice states that the closure will last until 6:00 PM. Several dozen flights are scheduled to depart and arrive from that time.

Eight arriving flights were forced to divert from Birmingham, with Ryanair and Jet2 flights scattering as far as Stansted and Manchester airports.

Addition

At Madrid's Barajas Airport, an Iberia plane made an emergency landing after colliding with a vulture. The bird hit the plane and was then sucked into the left engine.

Near the Spanish island of Mallorca, a light aircraft crashed, killing a 60-year-old former US Air Force pilot and his 13-year-old son. The crash occurred on August 2 during acrobatic maneuvers over the sea, and the causes are being investigated.