A TUI Fly flight bound for Frankfurt, Germany, was aborted this afternoon, minutes after takeoff, due to an incident known in aviation as a bird strike. The aircraft departed Madeira at 17:55 and was forced to return to the airport, landing safely at 18:36.
This incident appears to be the second bird strike at Madeira Airport in just two days. Yesterday morning, another bird was ingested into the engine of a Ryanair plane during takeoff. The event was captured on video by the YouTube channel Madeira Airport Spotting.
A bird strike refers to a physical collision between an aircraft and one or more birds. While most encounters cause no damage, bird strikes pose a significant safety challenge and cost the global commercial aviation industry over $1 billion annually.
