Denver-bound flight returns to St. Louis after bird strike

Feb. 27--ST. LOUIS -- A Frontier Airlines flight bound for Denver collided with a bird on Sunday, forcing the plane to make a quick return to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, officials said.

No one was injured in the incident, said airport spokesman Jeff Lea.

Frontier Flight 297 departed St. Louis on time just after 6 a.m.

The Airbus A320 was airborne for just a few minutes when the bird strike occurred, Lea said.

The plane made an uneventful landing at Lambert.

Lea said he did not know the extent of the damage to the airplane. The 58 passengers continued their trip on another Frontier flight, said an airline spokeswoman.

A Facebook posting by someone reportedly on the plane said passengers heard "this loud bang and saw sparks out the window" shortly after takeoff.

Collisions between birds and airplanes are not unusual. Sunday's incident was the fourth one this year at Lambert, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's "wildlife strike" database.

But the collisions rarely pose a serious threat to the planes or passengers. The FAA reports there have been 23 deaths and 209 injuries nationwide due to wildlife strikes since 1990.

In the past five years, Lambert has reported 276 "wildlife strike" incidents, according to the FAA database. Four of those resulted in severe damage to airplanes.

Last month, a private plane suffered $40,000 in damage after hitting ducks on approach to the airport. In July 2009, a Los Angeles-bound American Airlines MD-83 hit a red-tailed hawk as the plane climbed in the sky, causing $363,500 in damage.

The collisions at Lambert have involved a diverse set of birds, both big and small, including swallows, hawks, doves, American kestrels, blackbirds, owls, sparrows and geese.

Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch