American Airlines flights headed to San Francisco had to turn back to Philadelphia shortly after takeoff on Wednesday morning due to a bird strike involving a flock of birds.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the incident occurred shortly after departure from Philadelphia International Airport, where multiple birds collided with the aircraft.
The flight returned to the airport by 7:30 AM, marking an extremely brief beginning to its journey.
According to an American Airlines spokesperson, “The aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gates under its own power.” Despite the scare, passengers were moved efficiently to another flight, which took off again, though delayed, around 9:55 AM.
The aircraft involved is no longer in service for inspection purposes, as the airline stated.
Fortunately, no injuries have been reported in connection with this incident. Bird strikes are fairly common in aviation; in fact, the FAA highlighted that there were approximately 19,400 wildlife strikes at 713 U.S. airports just this year.
Interestingly, the FAA suggested that the rise in reported wildlife strikes can be attributed to a mix of factors, including a growing wildlife population and advancements in aircraft technology. They’ve focused more on researching these hazards due to the increasing occurrences.
Most wildlife strikes generally happen between July and October, which coincides with a time when many young birds are leaving their nests.
Since 1988, these collisions have led to about 500 human fatalities and the total loss of approximately 360 aircraft.
In a related incident, back in August, a flight bound for Paris had its nose severely damaged after hitting a large bird. The impact was so strong that it triggered the deployment of the oxygen masks, which understandably caused some panic among the passengers.
Earlier in July, a pilot had to maneuver around a bird during an airshow in Spain, but managed to safely land the aircraft without incident.
