Jet Airways flight hit by peacock grounded for 4 hours

Passengers of a Jet Airways flight from Mangalore to Mumbai were delayed by almost four hours after the plane suffered damages from a bird hit at the Bajpe airport on Tuesday.  

The Mumbai-Mangalore-Mumbai flight was hit by a peacock and its hydraulic section of a wheel got damaged. About 75 passengers and six crew members had to wait for almost four hours for the damages to be repaired.

“Flight no 9W2133 had arrived from Mumbai and was taxiing towards the terminal after safe landing with 130 passengers and six crew members when the pilot reported a bird hit,” airport director MR Vasudeva said. “The peacock came under the aircraft, which was moving very slowly towards the apron, and hit the nose wheel. The carcass of the bird got entangled in the wheel. As a result, the plane had to undergo some repairs,” he said. “But all the passengers and the crew members who had come from Mumbai safely disembarked at the terminal.”

Jet Airways officials said the plane had to undergo some urgent maintenance as the remains of the bird had damaged some parts in the hydraulic section of the front nose wheel.

“Another plane with the required spare parts arrived three hours later. The damaged parts were replaced by flight engineers within minutes and the aircraft was cleared for take-off at 16.40 hours,” the official said. “The flight left for Mumbai with 75 passengers and six crew members.”