A PLANE suffered extensive damage after a bird strike as it came in to land at Heathrow Airport in London.

    The Egyptair Boeing 737-800 was on approach to the runway in London when it was hit by a bird on the nose of the aircraft.

    The plane had flown out from Cairo, Egypt on Friday, and had 71 passengers on board.

    As well as blood smeared over the front of the plane, the radome cone was penetrated leaving a huge hole, with feathers clearly visible.

    The Aviation Herald reports that the aircraft was unable to depart for its return flight MS-780 and was grounded for 21 hours while it was repaired.

    It was then flown back to Cairo, but has not returned to commercial service.

    “The vast majority of bird strike incidents take place during takeoff and landing phases — so fairly near the ground, although birds have been occasionally hit at higher altitudes,” said captain Steven Draper.

    On the whole the majority of air strikes occur below an altitude of 914 meters, although there have been incidents occurring at higher altitudes.

    This is simply due to the face that above 3,048 meters there are a reduced number of birds. But this hasn’t stopped it happening at 9,144 meters and higher.

    (SD-Agencies)