A cargo plane from Fedex was forced to make an emergency landing on Newark Liberty International Airport on Saturday morning with one of his motorcycles after it had hit a bird while left the airport, officials said.
The port authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said no injuries had been reported. There were three people on board the plane, the authority said.
In a statement, FedEx said that Newark's plane flew to Indianapolis when the bird strike took place. “Our crew explained an emergency and returned safely to Newark,” said it, adding that the plane was evaluated. The company did not respond to a question about which charge, if present, was on board.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the bird strike had damaged one of the engines of the Boeing 767. The desk said the plane, Fedex Flight 3609, was switched off on a runway. The Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Unit, the Port Authority Police and Port Authority Operations responded to the emergency landing.
The episode happened around 8 am and the activities were resumed at the airport shortly later.
A fire can be seen at the bottom of the plane in images that are shared on social media. A video of the plane while it was in the air shows a flash of some fire and then a cloud of smoke.
The episode follows a series of aviation tramps, including the collision in the air of an army helicopter and a passenger beam in Washington, DC, who killed 67 people.
It is not uncommon for aircraft to touch wildlife, such as birds, and most episodes do not lead to killing or serious injury.
19,603 nature attacks were reported in the United States in 2023, or an average of approximately 54 strikes per day, according to a report from Federal Aviation Administration published in June. 3.6 percent of these strikes caused damage.
