NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – An American Airlines flight out of LaGuardia Airport had to make an emergency landing at JFK Airport minutes after takeoff Thursday evening after a bird struck one of its engines, officials said.
American Airlines flight 1722 had just taken off from LaGuardia around 7:20 p.m. and was en route to Charlotte when the bird strike happened, the airline said.
Video taken by a passenger shows the moment a bird entered the starboard engine of the Airbus A321 and sparked a brief flame moments after takeoff.
The pilot told air traffic control: “It appears we have an engine failure, but we're still kind of working through to figure out what's going on. But we hit birds on the way out.”
The plane landed safely at 8:03 p.m. and taxied to the terminal under its own power, the Port Authority said.
No injuries were reported among the 190 passengers and six crew members on board, according to American Airlines.
“The aircraft landed safely at JFK where it will be inspected by our maintenance team,” the airline said. "We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this may have caused.”
The incident recalls the Jan. 15, 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson,” in which a Charlotte-bound US Airways flight struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, disabling both engines and forcing the pilots to land the plane on the Hudson River. Everyone on board survived.
The Federal Aviation Administration says bird strikes are increasing, with 19,400 strikes at 713 airports across the U.S. last year alone. Rarely do they cause so much damage that commercial jetliners are forced to make emergency landings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.