A TUI jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Cardiff Airport on Wednesday afternoon after passengers reported seeing flames following a suspected bird strike. The aircraft, bound for Paphos in Cyprus, turned back shortly after taking off from the runway.
The flight to Paphos International Airport was scheduled to take four hours, but instead made an unscheduled return to the Welsh airport as flames were seen shooting from the jet. Footage taken from inside the aircraft during take-off shows a flock of birds flying to the right of the plane, with a bright flame visible near one of the engines underneath the right wing as dozens of birds continue to fly nearby.
Passenger describes cabin smoke
One woman onboard said the flight had been delayed by about 20 minutes and, once it finally took off, it was not long before it landed back on the same runway. “We could smell the burning in the cabin - it was horrendous,” she said. “When we landed there were two fire engines and loads of people checking the plane.”
A spokesman for Cardiff Airport said: “We responded to an incident involving TUI flight TOM5TN from Cardiff to Paphos on Wednesday, September 9. The aircraft experienced a bird strike on departure and landed safely at approximately 2.52pm.”
Airport operations resume
“All passengers and crew are safe. Cardiff Airport Fire and Rescue Service attended. The runway opened at 15.22pm and operations resumed,” the spokesman added. The rescheduled flight from Cardiff to Paphos departed at 12.25pm on Thursday, the airport confirmed.
Bird strikes are fairly common, with more than 1,700 reported in the UK alone last year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority. However, bird strikes resulting in severe damage to an aircraft or human fatalities are said to be extremely rare across the world.
