The bird harzard control patrol at work
A Turkish Airlines flight 606 destined for Instabul, Turkey today Tuesday suffered a bird strike in the engines soon after takeoff from Entebbe airport, forcing the pilot to hover around Ugandan airspace for over an hour to burn fuel for a safe landing.
According to Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCCA) the plane with 281 passengers and crew first departed Entebbe airport at 7.30 am local time but returned and landed safely back at Entebbe at 8.52 am.
Upon inspection for airworthiness, the flight was cleared for takeoff and departed Entebbe again at 10.40 am. UCCA says the bird hazard unit at the airport always undertakes a runway sweep (scaring away of birds) prior to any take-off or landing, and that is why there have been nearly no instances of bird strikes in spite of the fact that Entebbe is a bird sanctuary.
Source: The Observer
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