An airplane was forced to return to the airport in a Chinese city after hitting birds en route to Beijing Saturday. No casualties were reported.
On Saturday, the China Eastern Airlines plane - MU 5169 - was struck by birds on its right engine, about 10 minutes after takeoff at 7.58 a.m., Xinhua quoted a spokesperson of the Hefei Xinqiao International Airport as saying.
The bird strike led to a mechanical fault in the engine, forcing the plane to turn around. The flight was later cancelled and passengers were transferred to another plane. It was second such accident in two days at the Xinqiao airport.
On Friday afternoon, an Air China plane returned to the airport due to a bird strike about nine minutes after takeoff.
The aviation authorities have launched probe into the two accidents.