A Spain-bound Ryanair flight had to make an emergency U-turn to Manchester, forcing it to fly over the city for an hour to burn fuel, after suffering a bird-hit.
The Flight FR3445, was travelling from Palma, Manchester to Mallorca in Spain on April 1, when the pilot had to abandon the journey shortly after taking off and return to Manchester airport.
The plane declared emergency over the city after 6pm. It was forced into a holding pattern spending an hour total in the air, burning fuel as it circled around 3,500 feet over north Manchester and Rochdalein to make it light enough to land again, the Daily Express reported.
The plane, was due to arrive Palma at 8.50pm, but it instead landed in Manchester at around 7pm.
"Flight FR3445 was able to land normally and passengers departed safely. This flight from Manchester to Palma returned to Manchester shortly after take-off following a minor bird strike. To minimise delay, customers boarded a replacement aircraft which departed to Palma," Ryanair spokeswoman said.
Ryanair apologised to affected customers for any inconvenience caused. The aircraft landed normally and customers disembarked, she added.
