In Spain, a plane was forced to make an emergency landing due to a collision with a bird of prey
Kyiv • UNN
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.
At Madrid's Barajas Airport, an Airbus A321NEO XLR aircraft of Iberia airline was forced to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff due to a collision with a large bird. According to preliminary data, it was a vulture: first, the bird hit the nose of the plane, and then its carcass was sucked into the left engine. This was reported by Bild, writes UNN.
Details
The flight was supposed to go to Paris Orly Airport, but the collision occurred just a few minutes after takeoff — at a critically important climb phase. The pilots immediately decided to return to Madrid, and about 25 minutes later, the plane successfully landed on an emergency runway at the departure airport.
The damaged liner was only four weeks old: this model is one of the most modern in the world. It was delivered only on July 2 of this year and is designed for transatlantic flights. Currently, crews are only undergoing training on European routes.
Addition
Bird strikes in aviation are not uncommon, especially with predatory birds, which often soar at altitudes of 500 to 3000 meters, coinciding with the climb or descent phases of aircraft. Such cases do not always end as fortunately as in Madrid. For example, on December 29, 2024, in South Korea, birds got into both engines of an aircraft, and the pilots had to land without extended landing gear. During the landing, the plane caught fire: out of 181 people on board, only two crew members survived, who received severe injuries.