Plane With "Smashed-In" Nose Lands Safely

Northwest Airlines Says The Aircraft Had A Run-In With A Bird On The Way To Tampa

(AP)  A Northwest Airlines plane from Detroit landed in Tampa, Fla., with a dent in its nose, causing a stir among travelers.

Tampa International Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan says the aircraft collided with a bird. The airline says the incident was a "minor maintenance issue" and is investigating.

No one aboard Flight 478 from Detroit was injured on Sunday. Geoghagan says the pilot did not ask for emergency vehicles to be present for the landing.

Traveler Peter Brylinke was waiting to take the Boeing 757 from Tampa to Minneapolis when he saw the plane on the runway. He says it had a "smashed-in nose" and looked like it crashed into a wall.

Airline spokeswoman Kristin Baur says passengers on the later flight were offered compensation packages.

[toolmangler-2009]

Poor bird.

[truthislife1]

Should make the metal stronger.

[jetlizhan]

wonder what kind of bird? poor little thing

[mark46n]

Since the traffic pattern is usually over Tampa Bay for landings and take offs it probably hit a Pelican or Hering to make a dent that size. I dont think they have any birds that big in Minnesota but they do have some huge mosquitoes there.

[andor3]

"Should make the metal stronger. "

plane noses are usually not metal anyway because the radar is in the nose and metal blocks radar signals.

[extremophil]

So THAT''S why my pet pterodactyl didn''t come home last night.

[nssherlock1]

Watch, PETA will try to ground NWA.

[chatarpatar]

Bush did it

[fstop100]

was it "smashed in" or was it a dent. how about some accurate reporting.

[slim1h2o]

Plane hits bird!

Hmmm,,must be a slow news day. LOL,,,The next story will be, Dog bites man! Film at eleven.

[sistatee-2009]

More than likely, some drunk ground crewman at Detroit smashed into the plane with a baggage tram or something, and failed to report it. Damage that looks like the plane struck a wall, wasn''t caused by a bird.

[alphaa10-2009]

fstop100 asked, "was it "smashed in" or was it a dent. how about some accurate reporting."
---
The airline may have covered the aircraft nose and then wheeled the aircraft out of sight, so reporters were restricted to passenger comments. Bad publicity, whatever the reason.

ChatarPatar surmised, "Bush did it"
---
Bush did not do it. Bush paid somebody else to do it, and only later admitted there was no connection to 911.


nsSherlock1 boasted, "Watch, PETA will try to ground NWA."
---
PETA is not nearly as specious in its claims as your prediction. You are grounded for use of defective equipment.

[lewiston14]

Must have been a big bird Shaped like an empty cruise missle. Pilot and first officer are required to do a walk around of their plane as a first step to prep and takeoff. Commen practice for even a small single engine private plane

[lewiston14]

alphaa10: They might hide it from the public but I bet the FAA has impounded the plane. These guys are very good at figuring out what the problem was. I know that some do not like or trust the FAA or the NTSB but there still has to be a few honest people working there

[scottyusa]

While riding my motorcycle one time I had a June bug (large black beetle type bug)hit me square in the forehead at about 35 MPH and I saw stars it hurt so bad. I can imagine hitting a bird at 300 to 500 MPH. Good thing it wasn''t a bit higher or it would have hit the windshield. Birds don''t fly at 30,000 feet that I know of so it must have occured during take off or landing or during nap time.

[republic1776]

scottyusa,

If the plane was flying a bit higher, it would have missed or or hit the underbelly... : )

[standncount]

Bird stikes are far to common. The only thing in the nose of the plane are nav aids. even if they were flying blind (without TCAS, Radar etc..)Various control centers can get you down safely. People do exagerate a bit to dramatize a seemingly familiar event.

[lewiston14]

dragonwagon5: just not one of those palmento bugs from down south. they can dent a bumper

[lewiston14]

standncount: We are not making fun of the event but they fail to say was it a dent of like somebody drove a tractor into it. I think the latter would have been noticed

[erasmus81]

"While riding my motorcycle one time I had a June bug (large black beetle type bug)hit me square in the forehead at about 35 MPH and I saw stars it hurt so bad." Posted by scottyusa at 04:48 PM : Jul 07, 2008

I can''t stop laughing. Sorry.:)

[standncount]

lewiston14, I know. I was making a point of how some passenger: Traveler Peter Brylinke was waiting to take the Boeing 757 from Tampa to Minneapolis when he saw the plane on the runway. He says it had a "smashed-in nose" and looked like it crashed into a wall.

He must have been exagerating. Clearly. Thats what I am talking about people dramatize situations for whatever reason... It probably had a chunk taken out of the nose cone and he wanted to build it as much more than it really was.

[naucoming4u]

And those windshield wipers on the plane probably didn''t do a damm thing other than smear the guts from side to side! Though I think the co-pilot got in trouble from the Captain when he forgot to refill the squirter fluid!

[jlwesley]

Actually, it probably was not a bird, no feathers or other organic matter and birds dont normally operate at 18,000 ft.

more than likely a weather balloon, or maybe some other type of UFO, but not likely a bird.

[yongamerica]

The picture of the dented nose looks clean, no goop or stain or chipped paint even. I guess the picture was pulled because it doesn''t fit the story line very well.