Sunday evening flights from Helsinki-Vantaa to Paris and Warsaw had to be canceled due to bird strikes.
Two A Finnair plane collided with birds near Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on Sunday evening.
Both flights are operated by Norra.
The first one was about flight AY1145, which was supposed to leave a little before evening towards Warsaw.
The second was flight AY1581, which took off from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport after 8:00 p.m. to Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
However, due to a bird strike, the Paris plane did not make it further than the coast of Helsinki. Before landing, the plane had to circle around the station for some time to use up fuel so that the landing would be safe.
In Sunday’s cases, the engine wing of the Warsaw plane was damaged, so it was replaced, says Finnair’s director of communications Days Tallqvist by e-mail. There was no damage to Paris’s plane. The engines of both machines were cleaned.
Both flights had to be canceled and passengers had to be rerouted.
Bird strikes several occur every month, Tallqvist says. Collisions typically occur near airports during takeoffs and landings.
“Before takeoff, the pilots try to detect possible birds or flocks of birds in the takeoff sector, and if necessary, the takeoff is delayed,” says Tallqvist.
Collisions are most common during bird migration, because then birds are on the move in large flocks. The return migration of the birds has already started, but will continue to intensify as autumn progresses.
According to Tallqvist, bird strikes can cause dents in the plane or damage to engine parts, for example. Typically, larger birds cause more damage than smaller ones.
Tallqvist, however, has no information regarding Sunday’s incidents about what kind of birds the Warsaw and Paris planes crashed into. He says that it was about several birds.
Correction on Monday at 5:25 p.m.: The headline previously incorrectly stated that the wing was damaged. The plane’s engine was damaged.
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