At first passengers panicked after they smelled burned stuff. Perhaps the birds were sucked into the plane`s engine.Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - A Boeing 737-500 plane of Batavia Air was forced to abort its departure after hitting a flock of birds minutes after taking off from Kupang`s El Tari airport on Monday.
Due to the incident, 127 passengers bound for Denpasar, Bali, were forced to wait for other planes to take them.
One of the passengers, Mrs Dewi, said the incident did not hurt anyone but it was reported that the plane had problems and might not be flown for the time being yet.
She said the incident occurred after the plane took off at 3.30pm local time and flew for 10 to 15 minutes.
"At first passengers panicked after they smelled burned stuff. Perhaps the birds were sucked into the plane`s engine," she said.
After that one of the flight attendants announced that the plane had hit birds and had to fly back to the airport of departure to prevent any eventualities. Mrs. Melia, another passenger, said she felt tense and worried due to several flights incidents that had happened in the country recently.
She said she and other passengers however were willing to wait for a transfer to other planes.
"We are informed we will be flown to Denpasar and Surabaya by other Batavia Air planes," she said.
Batavia Air district manager Novianto confirmed the incident and said there was no problem with the passengers as they would all be flown by other Batavia planes.
Regarding the condition of the plane that hit birds he said it was still being checked and perhaps some of its parts had been damaged and needed to be replaced.
"We are waiting for the replacement parts," he said without telling which parts that had been damaged.
He said the birds hit the plane`s right engine causing burn smells that forced the pilot to decide to fly back.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
