Bird strike! The moment 200 starlings were sucked into passenger jet engine on take-off

By Mail Foreign Service
Updated: 13:22 EDT, 30 September 2009

Dwarfed by the jetliner, they look little more than a smattering of black dots.

But this flock of birds could have brought the plane crashing down in seconds.

They flew straight into the path of the Germania airlines flight to Kosovo as it took off from Dusseldorf airport with 80 on board.

Flight into danger: A flock of starlings fly straight into the path of the Boeing airliner as it lifts off at 200mph

More than 200 birds were sucked into one of the engines as one of the pilots can be seen watching what was happening. The markings directly below him are believed to be pitot tubes which measure the speed of the aircraft as opposed to holes in the fuselage created by the birds

‘It was like a scene from the Hitchcock movie The Birds. One second all was clear, and the next thing you saw were these birds swarming over the plane,’ said an onlooker.

It is thought more than 200 starlings were sucked into the right engine as the Boeing jet approached 200mph.

Others dented the fuselage but thankfully did not pierce it. Their splattered remains could be seen on the plane later.

‘The pitch of the engine said it all,’ said plane-spotter Juergen Kienast, who took these dramatic pictures.

‘It was like sticking a bit of metal pipe into a blender.’

Once airborne, the pilot reported engine damage and circled for almost 45 minutes before landing safely.

No-one was hurt and the plane had only minor damage.

A similar bird strike brought down an Airbus in the Hudson in New York in January this year.

The pilot managed a heroic emergency landing and all 155 on board survived.