An Air India flight to Delhi carrying 130 passengers had to return after it suffered a ‘suspected bird hit’ on Wednesday morning. No one was injured in the incident.
The incident is being referred to as a ‘suspected bird hit’ because the authorities could not find the bird. At 6.47 a.m., as soon as the aircraft took off, the pilot noticed a vibration in one of the engines. He brought the aircraft back to the airport at 7.05 a.m. Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said that the engine had some feathers and a few of the turbine blades were bent. But they were not able to confirm if a bird had hit the aircraft.
“The incident must have taken place at an altitude of 6,000 feet over Gummidipoondi. But we haven't found the dead bird. It could have hit the aircraft and fallen to the ground,” an official said. He noted that the AAI had taken a series of measures to curb bird menace at the Chennai airport.
“The location of garbage dumps has been changed and we have been consistently pruning the vegetation on the airport premises. But the garbage and meat stalls in and around the airport too need to be removed as they attract birds,” he added.
