Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Emergency landing for Air NZ flight after bird strike

An Air New Zealand 737-300 with 115 people on board landed safely at Dunedin International Airport yesterday evening following bird strike shortly after take-off.

A full emergency was declared at 5.20pm after a bird struck the left engine on the aircraft and it was shut down as a precaution.

Airport chief executive John McCall said the pilot of the 737-300 radioed Dunedin control tower about 20 minutes into the outbound Wellington/Auckland flight initially declaring an engine had failed.

He said he was turning back for landing and requested a full emergency response.

The fire service then called on all brigades in the area to respond. Police and ambulance services also responded.

However, Flight NZ474 landed safely at 5.37pm, Mr McCall said.

"I'm very pleased our procedures kicked in and worked as they should."

Emergency services were stood down shortly after the aircraft landed.

Air NZ spokeswoman Tracy Mills said the large-scale response was standard.

"As per standard operating procedure, the pilots notified air traffic control and requested assistance of airport services," Mills said.

Alternative travel arrangements were being looked at for the 115 passengers while the aircraft is being inspected by engineers

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