Bird strikes Islamabad-bound airplane of private airline

KARACHI: An Islamabad-bound airplane, which had taken off from Karachi, landed back at Karachi airport after a bird strike on Monday.

The airplane, Boeing-737, was of a private airline. According to Civil Aviation Authorities, the plane had suffered a bird strike about 16 kilometres from Karachi.

The bird had struck the plane’s windscreen, according to the sources.

The investigation in the incident is under way

Read more: Planes to have onboard system to scare away birds

Bird strikes cost the aviation industry millions of dollars every year. According to estimates, airlines in the US suffer loss of USD 68.3 million per year while worldwide the carriers have lost USD 1.3 billion in direct damage and associated costs in terms of aircraft down-time. 

In India, airlines have lost about Rs 180 million in 2011 due to bird-hits and incidents of runway incursions by stray animals. 

According to an Airbus study, in the incident of a bird- hit, 41 per cent chances are that an aircraft's engine or its nose, radome and windshield are damaged. While chances of fuselage or wings being damaged is just seven per cent, the same stands at three per cent for landing gears and one per cent for tail.