By Ariel Fernandez
All passengers of a Cebu Pacific (CEB) plane bound for Cagayan de Oro safely returned to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 3 minutes after a bird strike as it took off around 3:45 am.
(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
Cebu Pacific Spokesperson Charo Logarta Lagaman said, that safety is the priority of the airline.
An airport operations official said that the pilot-in-command of CEB flight 5J 381 from Manila to Cagayan radioed Manila Control Tower after they took off that they are returning to NAIA after encountering a "bird strike" that hit one of aircraft’s engine. The plane landed at NAIA runway around 4:17 am.
Former Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, in his Facebook page, said that he was on board flight 5J 381 bound for Cagayan de Oro when the pilot announced that they are returning to Manila as they were hit by a bird.
Roque said that there was a “sort of explosion and smell of smoke.” According to a report, there was indeed smoke in one of the engines but the pilots landed the plane safely.
The passengers of flight 5J381 boarded another plane for Cagayan de Oro which took off at 6:58 am the same morning.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and Cebu Pacific aircraft engineers are investigating and looking at how much damage was done by the bird strike.