Birds force Ryanair jet to make an emergency landing

A Ryanair jet carrying 166 passengers today made an emergency landing at Rome Ciampino airport after birds were sucked into its engines.

Two cabin crew and five passengers were taken to hospital with minor injuries after evacuating the aircraft via emergency chutes and the stairs.

Ryanair said flight FR4102 from Frankfurt to Ciampino had suffered "multiple bird strikes" as it approached the airport at 7.56am (6.56am GMT). The left-hand landing gear had suffered "substantial damage", leaving the Boeing 737-800 jet stranded on the edge of the runway.

"As a result, Rome Ciampino airport has been closed to all flights including Ryanair's until sometime late this afternoon," Ryanair said. "The aircraft is still being examined by Ryanair engineers and the Italian aviation authority."

Most bird strikes happen during take-off or landing while the plane is at a lower altitude and, according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, 90% of them happen at or close to airports. On very rare occasions they will occur at higher altitudes and have been recorded at heights of up to 9,000m, or 3,000ft.

Flocks of birds are a particular problem as they can cause multiple strikes from which the plane might find it more difficult to recover.

But thankfully only around 15% of strikes cause damage to planes and the engines of modern passenger planes are designed to shut down immediately if a bird is sucked inside, giving the pilot time to land the plane safely on the remaining engines.

One of the best ways of preventing bird strikes during take-off and landing is to manage bird populations around airports.