As a result of wing damage sustained during flight, a passenger airplane was compelled to make an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida.
WFLA uploaded footage of a Cessna Citation landing at Tampa International Airport on Thursday, showing the plane successfully touching down despite missing the left wingtip.
According to WFLA, the plane was headed to St. Petersburg from Arkansas when it suffered a wing loss near the city. Just the pilot was on the plane.
The winglet, which NASA says “causes the flow over the wing to be more two-dimensional,” was removed from the jet’s wings. This results in less drag and increased efficiency.
According to a statement by Tampa International Airport at around 6:30 p.m. yesterday, a Cessna Citation had flown from Arkansas and was approaching St. Petersburg at 27,000 feet when the pilot lost the left winglet and part of the wing. The pilot reported that he and one passenger landed safely at TPA.
Just last month, after a plane hit a flock of birds, smoke filled the cabin of a Southwest Airlines aircraft destined for Florida and forced the pilot to make an emergency landing in Cuba.
According to a statement sent by Southwest Airlines, flight 3923 from Havana, Cuba, to Fort Lauderdale had bird impacts to an engine and the aircraft’s nose soon after takeoff.
There was smoke in the cabin, so the pilots returned safely to Havana, where the 147 passengers and six crew members had already exited through slides. Minor injuries were evaluated by medical professionals after the passengers and crew were bused to the terminal.
Aircraft often suffer damage from bird strikes. On its way to Kansas City International Airport from Chicago in November, an American Airlines Boeing 737-800 hit birds. Damage was done to the plane, but nobody was hurt.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, 227,005 wildlife-related aircraft strikes in the United States occurred between 1990 and 2019.
Around 53% of all bird hits are recorded between July and October when young birds leave their nests, and autumn migration is in full swing.
