Qatar Airways Airbus A330 makes emergency landing in Istanbul after bird strike

Two weeks after an Emirates Boeing 777-300 crash landed at Dubai Airport, a Qatar Airways A330 has been forced to make an emergency landing at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport after suffering what is understood to have been a “bird strike” on Thursday. The incident occurred shortly after the flight, codenamed QR240, took off for Doha at 1.20pm local time (11.20am BST), landing in Istanbul 40 minutes later. Radar images showed the plane diverting over the Marmara Sea where it is understood to have jettisoned fuel before returning to land.
As the plane came in to land there is video footage of flames coming out of the aircraft’s left engine, while a witness located at a Turkish Airlines building close to the airport heard a “strange plane engine sound” overhead. The witness is quoted as saying that “When we looked up we saw that a Qatar plane’s left engine was flaming out. It turned round towards the sea, I suppose it drained its fuel. Afterwards we learnt it landed safely.” The witness, Mehmet Kirazoglu, also confirmed that he and his colleagues could see the engine ablaze and that the landing gear had not been raised.
On landing, all 298 passengers and 14 crew were able to disembark safely, though it is believed one woman was hospitalized after becoming faint. Qatar Airways confirmed that a replacement aircraft was being flown to Istanbul to take passengers on to Doha’s Hamad International Airport.
State-backed Qatar Airways is one of the Mideast’s three biggest carriers, with a fleet of 190 aircraft servicing over 150 destinations. It also holds a 20.01-percent stake in British Airways and Iberia parent, IAG, having boosted its stake at the beginning of the month.