An EgyptAir passenger jet suffered a bloodied nose when it was struck by a bird Friday while coming in to land at London's Heathrow Airport.
Photographs show how the creature left a large blood-smothered dent in the Boeing 737-800's beak.
Despite the dangerous distraction, the pilots managed to safely land the flight from Cairo with 71 passengers on board, reports The Aviation Herald. The fate of the bird is unknown, but it is presumed to have died following the collision.
EgyptAir Senior Procurement Specialist Amir Hashim posted images of the damage to Facebook. "The damage caused is clearly evident and SU-GDZ will be grounded until a new radome is fitted. Now, who has a spare?” he wrote.
The plane was grounded for a total of 21 hours so its radome, which protects the aircraft's antenna from atmospheric and physical damage, could be replaced. The jet then returned to Cairo International Airport, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Birds and other wildlife crashing into civilian and military aircraft cause $600 million worth of damage in the U.S. alone each year.
From 1990 to 2013, there were 142,000 wildlife collisions in the U.S., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Some 62 aircraft were either destroyed or damaged beyond repair. In 2013, there were around 11,000 collisions at 650 airports.
