Dubai-bound FedEx aircraft hit by bird, makes emergency landing at Delhi airport

The scheduled arrival of the flight at Dubai is at 3:29pm. While bird-hit incidents are common, several passenger flights from Delhi Airport were diverted in the last few days owing to bad weather.

Delhi airport on Saturday (April 1) witnessed a full emergency landing of an aircraft at 10:46am after flight no FX5279 was hit by a bird soon after it took off. The flight landed safely and took off again at 1:44pm. The Dubai-bound aircraft is operated by FedEx.

The scheduled arrival of the flight at Dubai is at 3:29pm. While bird-hit incidents are common, several passenger flights from Delhi Airport were diverted in the last few days owing to bad weather.

On Thursday, nearly 22 flights were diverted from Delhi Airport due to weather conditions.

In a statement, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that the cargo flight was involved in an air turnback due to a suspected bird hit at 1000 ft today. "Delhi airport (DIAL) declared an emergency. Aircraft landed back safely. After inspection, it has been released for flight," the DGCA said.

An emergency landing is declared when a aircraft is approaching an airport in such a way that an accident is possible. Sources claim that the action was conducted so that the plane could land at the airport in Delhi and specialists could examine it for technical problems before clearance.

The aircraft in the incident is a Boeing 777-200LR operated by FedEx. Usually, aircraft with twin-jet engines are used for carrying out long-haul flights and are capable of covering inter-continental journeys.