• Ryanair Boeing 737
    Ryanair
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    FR/RYR
    Airline Type:
    Low-Cost Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Dublin Airport, London Stansted Airport, Milan Bergamo Airport
    Year Founded:
    1985
    Airline Group:
    Ryanair Group
    CEO:
    Eddie Wilson
    Country:
    Ireland

A Ryanair flight departing Germany’s Weeze Airport (NRN) suffered a bird strike just after takeoff on August 16th. When the incident occurred, the aircraft was headed towards Fes Sais International Airport (FEZ) in Morocco as flight number FR 7712. The plane returned back to NRN safely, with no reported injuries to any passengers or crew members. Let’s take a closer look at the incident.

Bird strike after takeoff

Ryanair flight 7712 is a scheduled thrice-weekly service connecting Weeze, Dusseldorf, to Fes Sais Airport in Morocco. The ultra-low-cost carrier deploys one of its Boeing 737-800s on the route. On the day of the incident, the plane operating flight 7712 was registered as EI-DCX, a 17.6-year-old airframe that Ryanair initially took in 2005, data from ch-aviation shows.

According to The Aviation Herald, flight FR 7712 suffered a “minor bird strike” during the climb phase of the flight. It isn’t clear which engine was affected, but eyewitnesses heard a loud droning sound as the plane passed over.

Screenshot 2022-08-19 010408
EI-DCX entered a holding pattern over Germany for an hour after the incident. Photo: Flightradar24

A Ryanair spokesperson told Simple Flying,

“This flight from Weeze to Fez (16 Aug) returned to Weeze Airport shortly after takeoff following a minor bird strike. The aircraft landed normally and to minimise disruption to customers, they were promptly moved to an alternative aircraft which departed for Fez approximately 2 hours later. Ryanair sincerely apologises to all customers affected by this minor delay, which was entirely beyond our control.”

Indeed, popular flight tracking website Flightradar24 shows that the plane abruptly stopped its climb upon reaching approximately 5,000 ft. following takeoff from runway 27. There is no record of the aircraft squawking the emergency code, which makes sense since Ryanair claimed it to be a minor incident.

Safe return

After experiencing problems with the CFM engines, EI-DCX entered a holding pattern above Weeze for approximately one hour. Presumably, the pilots used this time to go through various checklists and troubleshoot the nature of the problem before deciding on future course of action.

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The Boeing 737 safely landed back on runway 27 at NRN at 18:50 UTC, a little over an hour after its initial departure. Ryanair arranged a replacement aircraft, another Boeing 737-800, to take the stranded passengers to their final destination, which arrived at NRN around two hours later. This plane, registered as 9H-QED, completed the flight to Morocco more than three hours behind schedule.

Ryanair aircraft landing in fog
The plane safely returned to NRN without any further incidents. Photo: Getty Images

As for the affected aircraft, Flighradar24 shows it was ferried to London Stansted Airport (STN) a day after the incident, where it still remains. It is interesting to note that STN airport hosts Ryanair’s largest base, and chances are, EI-DCX was taken there for repair and maintenance activities as a result of the incident on Tuesday.

Bird strikes: a growing menace

Today’s commercial aviation industry is exceptionally safe, with redundancies for every possible failure. However, bird strikes continue to remain a significant threat to aircraft even today. Many regulators, manufacturers, and airlines alike are engaged in numerous efforts to devise ways to mitigate the dangers of a bird strike, but a lot more needs to be done.

Source: The Aviation Herald