Kathmandu:
A Thai Airways plane coming from Bangkok today suffered a minor damage after it was hit by a bird while landing at Nepal’s international airport here.
A black kite crashed into the Thai Airways flight TG320 at 12.40 pm when it was about to land at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
The Boeing 777-2D7 suffered a minor damage on its right engine in the incident, according to the airport official.
No other damage was reported in the incident.
The number of passengers on board the plane were not known. However, the aircraft landed in a normal way without calling for any emergency landing, said Deo Chandra Lal Karna, the director of the operation department.
The Flight safely touched down at the TIA after a couple of minutes, however, the departure flight, scheduled for 1.50 pm, was delayed, according to the official.
The Boeing 777-2D7 took off from the TIA at 6:30 pm after Thai Airways technicians fixed the damaged engine.
Bird strike is a persistent problem at the country’s only international airport with a 52 per cent incidence of bird strikes occur in TIA as compared to other airports.
According to experts, aircraft are significantly at risk during take-off and landing as 90 per cent of birds fly below an altitude of 2,000 feet.
Earlier in December, a jet Airways was forced to make an emergency landing after its engine was hit by a bird while preparing to land.
