A Dubai-bound FedEx aircraft suffered a bird hit soon after taking off earlier today on Saturday, April 1, 2023, forcing authorities to declare a full emergency at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. The flight landed safely and took off later in the day after technicians checked the plane for any technical glitches before giving clearance.
Full emergency declared at Delhi airport after Dubai bound FedEx aircraft suffers bird-hit soon after take-off: Airport official
— ANI (@ANI) April 1, 2023
According to reports, the Dubai-bound FedEx flight FX5279 had taken off at around 10.46 am on Saturday morning. Minutes later, it had to make an emergency landing as it suffered a bird strike soon after taking off. The flight was grounded for a while after the incident and took off again at 1.44 pm once the technicians cleared it for flight after inspection.
The aircraft in the incident is a Boeing 777-200LR operated by FedEx, the American logistics company.
“Delhi- Dubai FedEx flight was involved in air turnback due to a suspected bird hit at 1000 ft today. Delhi airport (DIAL) declared an emergency. Aircraft landed back safely. After inspection, it has been released for flight,” the DGCA later said in a statement.
A bird strike is often referred to as bird ingestion, a bird hit, or Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH). It happens when an airborne animal – such as a bird or a bat – hits an aeroplane in flight.
Similar incident of flight suffering bird hit reported earlier
Notably, bird-hit occurrences are not uncommon, but they pose significant technological hurdles and can be fatally dangerous. Last month, a bird strike prompted an Air Asia jet en route to Pune to make an emergency landing at Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik International Airport. Just after taking off from the airport, the plane was hit by a bird.
Similarly, in February this year, an IndiGo flight from Surat to Delhi was forced to detour to Ahmedabad due to a bird strike during takeoff.
The incident was confirmed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), who added that the aircraft landed safely in Ahmedabad.
In October last year, an Akasa Air Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft flying from Ahmedabad to Delhi hit a bird at 1,900 feet, which caused sustained radome damage. On the same day, on October 15, a bird collided with a Mumbai-Bengaluru Akasa Air flight.
It may be recalled that in June last year, a helicopter ferrying Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had to make an emergency landing in the Holy city of Varanasi. As per initial reports, Yogi Adityanath was en route to Lucknow when a bird hit his helicopter, forcing an emergency landing.
