Bird grounds KLM flight

A KLM-North West flight returned within 25 minutes of take-off on May 5 because its engine was damaged after being hit by a bird. And the flight is still grounded at the airport. All the passengers have, however, been accommodated on other flights.

KLM’s Mumbai-Amsterdam flight was scheduled for take-off at 12.55am. “It left at 1.20am because of minor delays,” Pramod P, a local journalist who was on the flight said. “Within 15 minutes of the flight taking off, I heard a weird noise. It was as if some wheel chair was moving inside the plane.”

After some time the pilot announced that there was a problem and the flight would return to Mumbai airport, Pramod said. The plane made an emergency landing at 1.45am. “After the plane landed the crew told us that the plane was hit by a large bird. Some of the crew said the bird could be a vulture or kite,” he said.

When the engine could not be repaired till five in the morning, the passengers were accommodated in Grand Hyatt. The spokesperson for KLM-North West did not respond to phone calls. But an official at the airline’s office in Sahar said the passengers had been accommodated on other flights.

The spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) confirmed the incident but said the bird could not be identified as nothing was found on the runway.

“Whenever there is a bird-hit, we inspect the runway. In this case we did it twice but did not find anything. The engine blades are badly damaged, which means it was hit by a big bird,” he said.