A FedEx cargo plane made an emergency landing at a busy New Jersey airport on Saturday after a bird strike caused an engine fire that could be seen in the morning sky. The plane landed at Newark Liberty International Airport during the emergency, said Lenis Valens, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the AP reports. There were no reported injuries, and fire on the cargo plane was contained to the engine, Valens said. Audio recorded by LiveATC captured a person calmly saying the aircraft needed to "shut down for a possible bird strike" immediately, then, "We need to return to the airport."
Moments later, another person is heard saying, "We believe we saw their engine fall off the right wing." The audio indicates the strike happened when the plane was several hundred feet off the ground. The emergency landing, happened just after 8am, caused air traffic to be briefly halted, Valens said. The three people on board deplaned safely, Valens said. A spokesperson for FedEx said the plane was headed for Indianapolis before returning safely to Newark and expressed gratitude for the quick work of the crew and first responders.
Kenneth Hoffman, a pilot on another flight, said as his flight was pushing off, air traffic control said there was an emergency in progress. Hoffman posted a video on social media of a FedEx plane on the ground at the Newark airport with flames shooting from its side as it slowed to a stop with fire rescue equipment nearby. There was a lot of smoke, Hoffman said, who praised the pilots' response. "They handled it like champs," he said. The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate. The agency has said bird strikes are increasing, with more than 19,000 wildlife strikes at 713 US airports in 2023. Only rarely do they cause so much damage that jetliners are forced to make emergency landings.
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