Turkish Airlines flight grounded after bird strike on takeoff at Entebbe

There was panic at Entebbe International Airport on Tuesday morning after an Istanbul–bound Turkish Airlines plane spent an hour and 20 minutes circling overhead after take-off.

“Flight number 606 departed Entebbe at 7.30 am for Istanbul while it was raining. Unfortunately, the aircraft experienced a bird strike during take-off. As a precautionary measure, the flight hovered in the Ugandan airspace before landing safely at Entebbe at 08.52 am,” Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA said in a statement.

Asked whether the airport has a mechanism to scare away birds before take-off, the UCAA’s spokesperson, Mr Vianney Luggya said: “There is a Bird Hazard unit at the airport, which undertakes a runway sweep (scaring away of birds prior to any take-off or landing. That is how we have managed to reduce instances of this nature in spite of Entebbe being a bird sanctuary.”

The plane resumed flight about two hours later after checks for airworthiness.

“The Turkish Airlines flight number 606 has been cleared and departed Entebbe International Airport at 10:49 am with 281 passengers and crew on board,” UCCA said in a separate statement at 11.17 am.