Story Reported Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it will investigate Saturday night's emergency landing after a Frontier Airlines plane collided with a flock of birds.
Spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said the investigation will examine to ensure all flight rules were followed as well as review the Airbus 319's maintenance records. She said the investigation will take several weeks to complete.
The Smithsonian Institution will examine the feathers stuck in the plane's engines to determine whether they were Canada geese or some type of bird. Both engines were struck by the birds and one engine caught on fire, losing power.
The National Transportation Safety Board is currently not conducting its own investigation but is following the FAA's investigation. "We are monitoring the situation," spokesman Keith Holloway said.
Canada geese have long plagued airplanes but awareness of the issue became heightened after earlier this year they forced the emergency landing of a US Airways flight on the Hudson River in New York City. That has become known as "The Miracle on the Hudson."
A spokesman for Frontier Airlines said Monday that the two men in the cockpit were experienced pilots. The captain was hired in 2002 by Frontier and the first officer was hired in 2006. "When they were hired, they more than exceeded our standard for pilots and first officers in terms of flight hours and other experience criteria," according to Steve Snyder.
The captain was at the controls Saturday night.
Snyder said pilots are trained for bird strikes.
"Unfortunately, bird strikes happen more frequently now to every airline, and pilots know how to deal with them," he said in an e-mail.
Passengers told NBC Action News reporter Liz Zamora that the plane shuddered after striking the birds and some could clearly see the flames. Some passengers wept while others prayed out loud. Some considered what they feared would be their last text message.
The plane left for Denver around 7 p.m. and had risen to about four miles north of the airport or about 4,000 feet when it hit the birds, KCI spokeswoman Kathleen Hefner told NBC Action News Saturday night. The flight was away from the airport less than 30 minutes.
The Airbus suffered "extensive damage," and lost power to Engine #2, she said. The other engine was also struck but didn't lose power.
Hefner said a total of 129 passenger and crew members were on board Flight #820.
The plane returned to its original gate: Terminal C, Gate 85.
A Frontier spokesman said Sunday afternoon that all passengers "should be in Denver or connected through by the end of (Sunday)."
Passengers told NBC Action News that they saw flames and smelled a horrible odor. Some saw smoke in the cabin. They described terrified passengers who were openly weeping. Passengers will be forced to spend the night in Kansas City. This has some upset because they are concerned an expected snowstorm will affect their departure Sunday.
Among those on the plane was Sam Weisgal of Bethesda, Md. He was traveling via Denver to Portland when he said the plane "shuddered in mid air." He said the cabin was eerily quiet other than some passengers crying and he and others were thinking about the US Airways flight that landed on the Hudson River.
He estimated it took about three minutes for the pilot to make an announcement. He said he had risked his life in combat and didn't expect to be frightened.
"I was scared. I was surprised I was scared," he said. "For those three minutes I was frightened to death."
The pilot told the passengers that they had hit birds and would be returning to KCI. He said he and he thinks many of the other passengers thought they would crash. He said he heard some crying but most appeared in a state of shock.
Once the plane landed and passengers got off, Weisgal said, is when some "got hysterical."
Weisgal credited the pilots with the safe landing. He celebrated the landing at the bar at the airport Marriott where Frontier put him up for Saturday night. He plans to fly out of KCI on a Frontier flight bound for Denver early Sunday morning.
A spokesman for Frontier told NBC Action News at 12:30 a.m. Sunday that the type of bird the plane hit had not been determined yet.
