An American Airlines flight had to abort its takeoff at LaGuardia Airport Friday morning after a bird flew into the engine, the Port Authority said. Now the frequency of 'bird strikes' is back under the spotlight.
Flight 2266 to Miami was set to depart from runway 13 of the Queens hub shortly when the pilot reported the bird strike around 7:30 a.m., officials said.
The plane returned to the gate, where passenger photos showed crew members working to remove the bird's remains from the engine.
No injuries were reported and airport operations were not affected, the Port Authority said.
But the plane's scheduled takeoff was scrubbed as crews worked to clean bird remains out of the engine.
In 2009, a flock of geese brought down US Airways Flight 1549, which is now immortalized as the 'Miracle on the Hudson'.
After Captain Chesley Sullenberger narrowly landed the plane on the waters of the Hudson River, Queens congressman Joe Crowley began advocating for more measures to monitor bird populations around New York's airports - including special avian radar so air traffic controllers can know when flocks of birds are threatening.
Meanwhile--since the Miracle on the Hudson--bird strikes have become more common near LaGuardia.
There were 104 recorded strikes in 2009, and in the five years after the Miracle on the Hudson there were an average of 155 bird strikes.
