New York City — A possible bird strike just after takeoff forced an American Airlines jetliner to make an emergency landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport Thursday evening, officials said.
American Airlines Flight 1722 had taken off from LaGuardia Airport and was heading to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, when it was diverted to JFK Airport just after 10 p.m. local time, due to a “reported bird strike,” the airline confirmed to CBS. News in a press release.
No injuries were reported among the nearly 200 people on board the Airbus A321.
“We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this may have caused,” the airline said.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident and said in a statement that it was investigating.
Cellphone video provided to CBS News captured a flash that may be birds hitting one of the plane’s engines.
“Pilots are definitely trained to fly on one engine, so everything worked as it should last night,” Robert Sumwalt, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told CBS News Friday.
In 2009, the “Miracle on the Hudson” involved a collision with a bird and a plane flying the same route as Thursday’s American Airlines jet. All 155 people were rescued in that incident, and pilot Sully Sullenberger instantly became a hero. aviation.
More than 19,000 bird strikes were reported in the United States in 2023 at more than 700 airports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which maintains a database in which it records collisions between planes and wildlife.
In April, a bird strike which caused the engine fire forced an American Airlines plane from Columbus, Ohio, to Phoenix, Arizona, to return to Columbus about 30 minutes after takeoff.
“Birds always fly, and they always will fly, and planes always fly,” Sumwalt said. “So the trick is to keep those two separate.”
Marc Strassmann
