Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Caroline Mortimer

Plane declares emergency after suffering bird strike following take-off

The Blue Air flight was forced to burn fuel over the Irish Sea (Thierry Zoccolan/Getty Images)

A passenger plane declared an emergency when it was struck by a bird shortly after taking off from Liverpool.

Due to fly to Bucharest, the aircraft was forced to circle around the Irish Sea for over an hour before landing again more than two hours later.

Lowcost Romanian carrier Blue Air was operating the flight and told to the Liverpool Echo the plane was burning off fuel ahead of its emergency landing at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

The firm said it was standard procedure in cases such as this and the passengers were in no danger.

Liverpool Airport tweeted:
 

This is not the first time a bird has caused havoc with aviation.

In 2009, they caused the emergency landing of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River in New York where Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III managed to dropped the plane safety after the engine was hit by a flock of geese.

A movie is now being made about Captain Sullenberger’s life.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.