An American Airlines flight was forced to return and make an emergency landing at O'Hare International Airport on Sunday morning after the plane flew into a flock of birds.
American Flight 289 was on its way to Shanghai when it had a major bird strike, forcing it to return to O'Hare at around 11:14 a.m. The incident occurred shortly after takeoff. The plane was carrying 237 passengers and 15 crew members. The flight made it back to the airport without incident, NBC reports.
According to Chicago Fire Media's Twitter, an EMS Plan 1 was called to the airport and several ambulances were sent to the plane as a precaution. There were no injuries. The passengers were placed on another flight to Shanghai later in the afternoon.
Birdstrikes are pretty common around O'Hare and Midway International Airports. There have been more than 430 strikes since the beginning of 2012 and the amount of strikes had increased significantly over the past 20 years. There may be even more strikes which have never been reported.
Three weeks before this incident, a Southwest Airlines flight heading to Chicago had to land in North Carolina after a bird flew into the engine. The most famous bird strike incident is "The Miracle on the Hudson," in which Captain Sully Sullenberger was able to safely land a U.S. Airway plane on the Hudson River in New York after the plane hit a flock of birds.
Typically, bird strikes are not troubling for flights as they don't tend to cause damage or injury, but some are the equivalent of a fender-bender for flights. However lately, the FAA says that several strikes have caused significant damage to planes. Since 1990, 54 plans were destroyed due to bird strikes and 23 people were killed in crashes caused by bird strikes.
The plane in Sunday's incident, a Boeing 777-200, was taken to maintenance where it is being inspected. It is not clear how much damage the plane sustained.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
