A total of 125 passengers and seven crew members in route for St. Thomas had their flight from New York’s JFK International Airport delayed Tuesday by about six hours when several geese hit American Airlines Flight 1320 about 10 minutes after the plane left the airport, the airline said in a statement.
The pilot made an emergency landing at the airport, returned to the airport, was inspected for damage and taken out of service.
The statement indicated no one aboard the 757 jet aircraft was injured.
The passengers were then put on a later flight scheduled to St. Thomas, scheduled to depart at 2 p.m. It was originally scheduled to leave JFK at 8:06 a.m.
American did not respond to a request for further information.
According to a published report by the New York area media outlet Metro, birds were observed by several pilots in the vicinity of JFK.
Bird strikes are a threat at many airports. The most famous incident happened Jan. 15, 2009, when US Airways Flight 1549 piloted by Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger made an unpowered emergency water landing in New York’s Hudson River after the plane was hit by multiple bird strikes. All 155 passengers and crew aboard that aircraft were successfully evacuated.