Birds hit two planes on two separate occasions this week forcing both planes to turn back to New York's John F. Kennedy airport.
Not one, but two JetBlue flights from JFK were forced to turn back due to bird strikes. JetBlue Flight 831 with 70 passengers was headed to the Dominican Republic on Saturday afternoon when it had to turn back due to a bird strike. The plane landed safely back at JFK and the passengers were placed on a different flight which departed 90 minutes later, the New York Daily News reports.
Another JetBlue plane, Flight 721 with 125 passengers was headed to Nassau in the Bahamas when it hit a bird shortly after take-off on Sunday. There was no clear damage to the plane as it was not a direct hit but the pilot turned back to New York due to a safety concern. The passengers were also placed on another flight while the original plane was inspected.
Although the two similar incidents occurred within two days of each other, bird strikes are rare.
"In my experience, this is not a common occurrence for us," spokeswoman Tamara Bentham told Business Week.
These incidents come four years after a major bird strike caused a US Airways flight to land in the Hudson River in New York City in what is now known as the "Miracle on the Hudson." On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger was able to safely land the flight in the river after it hit a flock of geese a few minutes after takeoff.
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