Denver-Bound Plane Lands Safely After Bird Strike
DENVER (CBS4) - A plane landed safely at Denver International Airport after hitting a bird on Tuesday.
The United Airlines Boeing 737 was on its way to Denver from Dallas and the strike apparently happened about 25 miles outside of Denver.
There were no problems landing and none of the 151 passengers on board were hurt.
The plane was taken out of service to be inspected for repairs.
Aviation experts say planes and birds collide often without anybody knowing it happened. But they say it's rare when a bird and plane collide, causing damage.
Airports have been actively trying to do bird mitigation work after a US Airways plane with 155 people on board hit a bird and had to land in the Hudson River in New York.
They're trying to discourage birds from nesting around airports because even though the collisions are rare, the damage that a plane can sustain is enough to put a flight in serious danger.
"Number one, you're engine is going out, a broken windshield, or just damage to the airplane, which you can notice later on," aviation analyst Mike Boyd said. "But that's very, very rare. So the reality of it is, even though it's rare, you want to minimize it as much as possible."
In 2009 the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked to shoot at birds to keep them out of DIA airspace.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a report showing that there's been a 72-percent increase in bird strikes at DIA since 2000.
