A Boeing 757-200 aircraft operated by British low fare carrier Thomsonfly made an emergency landing shortly after departure from Manchester (UK) airport yesterday morning after two large birds, described in news reports as herons, were ingested into the aircraft's number two engine. According to BBC News, the flight was carrying 221 passengers, and was en route from Manchester to Arrecife, Lazarote in the Canary Islands. No one was injured.
The bird strike occurred moments after rotation. Smoke and flames could be seen pulsing from the starboard engine during climb out. The engine was shut down, the crew declared a MAYDAY, and the aircraft returned to Manchester Airport where it made a safe emergency landing. Congratulations to the crew for that happy ending.
There are a couple of videos of this incident being circulated on the Web. Click here to view one of those, posted on the ITN website. Below is another video of the event that was posted on YouTube by headintheclouds46. Tip of the hat for posting that footage.
