Ryanair Prestwick flight grounded by bird strike
03.10.06
Ryanair passengers on a flight from Prestwick were involved in a mid-air drama yesterday, when a flock of seagulls flew into one of their plane's engines. Passengers reported hearing banging coming from an engine and some saw flames.
The flight from Prestwick Airport to Paris had only just taken off when the bird strike happened. The Ryanair plane turned back to the Prestwick Airport where it was evacuated.
One man who was on board said: 'We were maybe just five minutes into the flight when we heard a loud banging noise coming from the engine. And we could smell something burning. It was pretty scary and a lot of people were looking quite alarmed.'
A spokesman for Ryanair said: 'A flock of seagulls flew into one of the engines. There's a standard procedure that the aircraft turns around and returns when that happens. Our engineers have taken a look at the plane, which has been taken out of service until repairs have been carried out.'
The plane had 137 passengers and a crew of six on board. Passengers took off for Paris Beauvais on another plane two and a half hours later at 09:15.
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