Bird strikes are a chronic problem for pilots, but an incident Wednesday over the East China Sea involving a Japan Coast Guard patrol plane was particularly serious.
After hitting an albatross at around 5:10 p.m. at an altitude of 300 meters, the Bombardier DHC8-315 sustained a big hole in its nose, and the dead bird was stuck in it, coast guard officials said.
The hole was reportedly as wide as 1 meter.
But the patrol plane flew on and landed at its intended destination of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, a little after 6 p.m. after leaving Naha at 2:50 p.m., the officials said. (Japan Times)
Bird strikes are a chronic problem for pilots, but an incident Wednesday over the East China Sea involving a Japan Coast Guard patrol plane was particularly serious.
After hitting an albatross at around 5:10 p.m. at an altitude of 300 meters, the Bombardier DHC8-315 sustained a big hole in its nose, and the dead bird was stuck in it, coast guard officials said.
The hole was reportedly as wide as 1 meter.
But the patrol plane flew on and landed at its intended destination of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, a little after 6 p.m. after leaving Naha at 2:50 p.m., the officials said. (Japan Times)