Emergency services meet Inverness-bound easyjet flight after being forced to return to Bristol Airport following bird strike
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An Inverness-bound aircraft was forced to return to Bristol Airport soon after take-off this afternoon following a bird strike.
The easyjet flight yesterday took off at 2.05pm and was due to arrive at Inverness Airport at 3.30pm.
One passenger who was heading to Aviemore for a three-night break told the Strathy that he and his wife had decided not to board the replacement flight and stay at home instead after the drama.
The man, who did not want to be named and admitted to being a nervous flier, said: "I have never been so scared in my life. My chest actually hurts where my heart was pounding.
One engine sounded rough as we were belting down the runway but managed to take off then within a minute engines died down and we were coming down.
They were trying to get a back up plane from Gatwick but we would’ve had to wait till later on tonight and couldn’t guarantee us getting on - and to be honest my nerves are shot."
A spokeswoman for the airline said following the incident: "easyJet can confirm that flight EZY393 from Bristol to Inverness returned from airborne following a bird strike on departure.
"The captain made the decision to return to Bristol in line with procedures and emergency services met the aircraft on arrival as a precaution only.
"Passengers have disembarked normally in Bristol and we are arranging a replacement aircraft to continue the flight to Inverness.
"The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority."
