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Chaos on Paris-bound flight as bird strike forces emergency landing: Video
Iberia reported that its Airbus A321XLR struck a large bird shortly after takeoff from Madrid, causing severe engine damage and smoke in the cabin.
An Iberia Airbus A321XLR, delivered to the airline just over a month ago, reportedly sustained damage during a flight to Paris Orly Airport (ORY) after colliding with a large bird.
The aircraft, Iberia’s newest and fourth A321XLR, took off from Madrid Barajas Airport (MAD) on August 3 shortly after 6:40pm local time. Within about five minutes of departure, the flight appeared to turn back toward the airport.
In a statement to AeroTime, Iberia confirmed that flight IB579 struck “a large bird on the front section of the aircraft and one of its engines” shortly after takeoff.
The horrifying moments were captured on video from a passenger inside the Iberia plane, ABC7 Chicago reported.
"We thought that it was the turbulence that the captain was talking about, but then we started hearing a noise... and we were like, okay, something's going on," passenger Giancarlo Sandoval was quoted as saying.
Sandoval captured the frightening moments in the air on his phone camera as passengers used oxygen masks as cabin smoke surrounded them.
In a statement, Iberia said, "The entire flight crew, including pilots and cabin crew, acted with the utmost professionalism in managing the situation and attending to the passengers."
"Fewer than 10% of those bird strikes cause damage to the aircraft," Ganyard said, "In this case, the damage was severe enough to one of the engines that it caused smoke coming into the cabin.
