According to a report by Citinewsroom.com, KLM had to cancel its September 3 flight from Accra to Amsterdam as a result of the “bird strike.”
The news website reported that personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service rushed to the scene to remedy the situation while passengers who remained onbard were left stranded and in fear.
From the report, passengers disembarked and checked into hotels to spend the night while the airline made efforts to replace the deflated tyres of the plane.
A bird strike is strictly defined as a collision between a bird and an aircraft that is in flight or on a take-off or landing roll.
The term is often expanded to cover other wildlife strikes – with bats or ground animals.
Bird Strike is common and can be a significant threat to aircraft safety.
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For smaller aircraft, significant damage may be caused to the aircraft structure and all aircraft, especially jet-engined ones, are vulnerable to the loss of thrust which can follow the ingestion of birds into engine air intakes. This has resulted in a number of fatal accidents.
Bird strikes may occur during any phase of flight but are most likely during the take-off, initial climb, approach and landing phases due to the greater numbers of birds in flight at lower levels. Since most birds fly mainly during the day, most bird strikes occur in daylight hours as well.