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Watch: Flames seen from American Airlines plane after bird strike, emergency landing

Watch: Flames seen from American Airlines plane after bird strike, emergency landing

Photograph: (AFP)

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An American Airlines Boeing 737 made an emergency landing in Myrtle Beach after a bird strike caused engine trouble and flames, with all 172 people on board safe.

A video purportedly shows flames shooting from an American Airlines flight after it suffered a bird strike before making an emergency landing at Myrtle Beach International Airport.

American Airlines Flight 1760, a Boeing 737 carrying 172 people, was flying towards Charlotte when the incident occurred on Monday morning. The pilot was heard issuing a "Mayday" call over air traffic control recordings after the bird strike.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday, we got an engine problem here," the pilot said.

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A passenger on board also recorded a video showing flames from the aircraft. Another voice in the video said, “The engine is backfiring like crazy. I think she is on fire now.”

The Boeing 737 managed to land safely at Myrtle Beach, and no one was injured in the incident.

American Airlines said it removed the aircraft from service for inspections. The airline moved the passengers to another aircraft, allowing them to continue their journey to Charlotte.

Bird strikes remain common in aviation

Animal strikes are not uncommon in aviation, with birds accounting for most such incidents.

In January 2009, a US Airways passenger jet flying from New York City famously landed on the Hudson River after both engines began to fail following a bird strike shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. All 155 people on board survived.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has recorded nearly 8,300 animal strikes so far this year. The agency also said birds have historically accounted for approximately 97% of reported animal strikes.

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Ajaypal Choudhary

Driven by a deep interest in international politics and geo-economics, Ajaypal Choudhary writes on and analyses a wide range of subjects from geopolitics and the global economy to ...Read More