I flew back from New York yesterday. On take off in the dark, birds hit the cockpit and were sucked into one of the engines. It made a pop and the plane yawed. Those were the terms used by the pilot.
The pilot made an emergency landing back at Newark asking us not to be alarmed by the phalanx of fire engines with their lights flashing at the end of the runway. He said landing with full tanks increased the stopping distance.
We made it safely down.
Just how dangerous can a bird strike be on take off, or anywhere in flight for that matter?
