Emergency landing at Schiphol after plane hits birds

A Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737 made an emergency landing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Sunday night after hitting a flock of birds during take-off.


The plane was carrying 162 people and was on its way to Nador in Morocco when birds got in to one of the motors, just before 22.00 hours.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke coming out of one of the motors. The plane flew low over Haarlem and then returned to the airport, landing safely on the Polderban runway.

Motor

A spokesman for the airline said the plane appeared to have hit five to six large birds. One motor stopped working but the plane was able to fly back on the others.
One Haarlem resident told Nos tv the plane dumped its kerosene. ‘It left a trail and there was a mist in the street. And there was smoke at the back of the plane.’
A spokesman for the pilots association VNV told news agency ANP collisions with birds are not unusual. ‘The damage is usually so limited passengers do not notice it,’ he said. ‘It is not often birds cause so much damage a motor stops working.’

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation