Bird-hit: Close shave for Kingfisher passengers

Vijayawada: Sixty-five passengers, including BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, had a providential escape here on Friday when the Hyderabad-bound Kingfisher Airlines flight suffered a bird-hit at the Gannavaram airport when it was ready for take-off.
The pilot controlled the flight within a few seconds after a big bird, reportedly an eagle, crashed into top front portion of the pilot's cockpit at around 11.30 am when the plane was all set to take flight from the airport, about 20 km from here. He applied brakes and brought the flight to a halt.
Union minister Daggubati Purandareswari's husband and MLA Venkateswara Rao and Chodavaram MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao were among the VIPs in the flight when the incident happened. "It was a great escape for all of us. The flight crew did a fantastic job," Srinivasa Rao told TOI.
Though the passengers heard a loud noise when the flight was on the runway, they did not gauge the impact till the flight crew informed them about the bird-hit.
With the mirror of the cockpit completely damaged, the airlines cancelled the scheduled flight. The airlines later arranged a special flight to take the passengers to Hyderabad, which reached the airport at around 2.30 pm — almost three hours after the accident.
09/08/08 Times of India

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, Kingfisher Aug 2008, Safety Aug 2008