Alaska Airlines plane returns to Seattle airport after collision with bird damages aircraft
4/25/2014SEATTLE — An Alaska Airlines plane safely returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a bird collision damaged the plane.
Airport spokesman Perry Cooper says there were no injuries to the 65 passengers or four crew members. Flight 2460 took off toward Bozeman, Montana, around 1:45 p.m. local time today.
After the collision, the pilot turned the plane around and landed in Seattle without incident around 2:08 p.m. The bird was still attached to the nose of the aircraft.
Cooper says bird collisions rarely cause damage to aircraft.
Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy says the bird went through the skin of the nose of the Bombardier Q400 operated by airline subsidiary Horizon Air.
McElroy says the passengers were scheduled to take off for Bozeman in another plane later today.