A Chinese airline Hainan Airlines plane was forced to turn around minutes after taking off. The reason? The plane hit a bird, causing a problem in the Boeing’s right engine.
Big scare on board. Sunday, November 10, the passengers of a Boeing of the Chinese company Hainan Airlines were shaken. Shortly after taking off from Rome Fiumicino Airport, the plane had to return to its original “port”. The problem? An engine problem, Le Parisien tells us. The 249 passengers and sixteen crew members were not injured and were able to disembark without difficulty. But not in Shenzhen (China) as was originally planned.
The Ile-de-France daily reports that the aircraft had to drop fuel over the sea. The Boeing 787 actually hit a bird. If the event is far from exceptional, it can prove particularly dangerous. Sylvain Lejal, biodiversity referent at Orly, told AFP in April 2023 that “animal collisions are the second major accident risk for a plane”. A bird can thus be sucked into the reactors and cause the engine to stop. In addition, if the bird hits the windshield, pilots may be injured.
Air traffic was not disrupted
For the moment, the exact circumstances of the incident still remain unclear. Investigations are being carried out to determine them precisely. The right engine of the Dreamliner 787-9 is currently being studied from all angles by investigators, a spokesperson for ADR, the operator of Rome airports, told AFP.
If the incident prevented passengers from reaching Shenzhen, the return of the plane did not disrupt traffic at Fiumicino airport, indicates Le Parisien.
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