Bird Strike disrupts Jet2 flight to Mallorca

A Jet2 flight heading for Mallorca was forced to return to Leeds after hitting a bird shortly after take-off.

Flight LS227 was carrying 135 passengers and five crew members to popular holiday destination Mallorca when the incident happened. According to Flightradar24, the plane, which took off at around 4.39pm, was safely back on solid ground by 5.52pm. The collision occurred just as the aeroplane passed over Manchester and as a precautionary measure the pilot redirected back to Leeds Bradford Airport to make the unscheduled landing.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue service was alerted to the incident at 5.16pm, when a ´full emergency´ was reported by Air Traffic Control, stating that the aeroplane had suffered a bird strike to engine 2 and that as a result of the strike the plane was vibrating severely although no hazards were reported on board.

The bird strike left the pilot with no choice but to abandon the flight to Mallorca

The fire and rescue service urged that use of the terminology `full emergency´ was from the Leeds Bradford Airport´s Air Traffic Control, rather than themselves, and was the air control unit´s habitual way of classifying such an event [Amelia Neath, Independent, 12/08/2024]. Jet2 also emphasised that the pilot of the flight did not report the event as an emergency and simply followed standard procedure when he turned the plane around and made the unexpected return to Leeds Bradford Airport.

A spokesperson from Jet2 issued a statement apologising for the delay, and all passengers were relocated to a different aeroplane to start the flight a second time and continue on their journey to Palma de Mallorca Airport.

Disruption from bird strike not unprecedented

It seems that this is not the first time a bird has disrupted a flight from Leeds Bradford Airport, with a similar incident happening to another flight, also a Jet2 aircraft, back in March of this year, causing the Lanzarote bound flight LS217 to make an unscheduled landing at Manchester Airport. As with this latest bird strike, everyone on board was transferred to another aeroplane in order to get to their destination safely and with minimal delay and disruption.