A Ryanair flight FR4102 (Boeing 737) originating from Frankfurt, Germany with 166 passengers on board (and 6 crew) suffered from multiple bird strikes (both engines ingested multiple European starlings) causing an emergency landing at Rome’s Ciampino Airport. The airport was closed till late Monday afternoon since the aircraft removal was hampered due to “substantial damage” to the landing gear.
Thanks to the great pilots, the injuries were minimal!
Three passengers and two crew members were taken to hospital with minor injuries, Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said. (from here)
The culprit (from here)
European starlings weigh only about 80 grammes (three ounces), but they
travel in flocks of up to 10,000 “and act as a single thing,” said
Montemaggiori, who was at the airport assisting the investigation.
The birds were responsible for the most fatalities of any plane
accident caused by birdstrike, that of a Lockheed Electro turbo-prop in
Boston Harbour in March 1960, when 62 people died.
Italian airports report nearly 600 birdstrike incidents a year, the
ANSA news agency reported. In the United States, the overall figure is
some 36,000, according to the Bird Strike Committee USA.
Passenger Accounts (from here)
“We hit the runway hard and we were really scared but the pilot was
great he saved our lives,” said Italian passenger Gaetano De Caro.
“If it had been someone else, perhaps we would all be dead because we
were getting closer to the perimeter wall (of the airport).”
“I saw flames coming out of one engine as we were landing, and we were
told later that a flock of birds was probably to blame,” said a
passenger, Guglielmo Albertini.
“There was a smell of burning, and there was a little bit of panic
among the passengers,” another passenger said. “When we got out we saw
traces of blood on the wings.”
