A Japan Airlines aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing just minutes after take off from Tokyo due to a flame out following a bird strike to one of it engines on Tuesday.
The incident took place just seconds after take off at 11am local time on Tuesday, images of the event clearly show flames puffing out the engine of the aircraft in a spluttering or coughing manner. The heavy Boeing 777 aircraft was carrying 248 people at the time and was bound for New York when the event occurred. It then circled for an hour to burn off and discard fuel to bring it to a permitted landing weight so it could safely return to Tokyo's Haneda International Airport.
Local authorities and JAL have confirmed they would be investigated the incident and inspecting the engine, however, early indications are that a bird was injected into the engine causing a small fire. "It seems that a bird got sucked into the left engine when taking off," a JAL spokesman told media.AFP news agency.
According to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism official, a grass field near one of the runways caught fire for a brief period after the JAL plane departed, but it was put out immediately.
Passengers on the flight reported being nervous, "Right after taking off, we heard five bangs and the plane shook," one passenger told local tv station, "But all the passengers were calm."
Another passenger admitted "I was nervous at first. I'm glad we were able to come back safely."
Birdstrikes are rather common in the aviation world, perhaps the most famous bird strike incident is that of the water landing of the US flight into the Hudson River, which has been made into a movie starring Tom Hanks.
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