American Airlines Flight 634 out of John Wayne Suffers Bird Strike
American Airlines 737-800
An American Airlines flight out of Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA) bound for Dallas Ft. Worth (DFW) hit a flock of birds (bird strike) just after takeoff Saturday morning and diverted to Los Angeles International (LAX).
American Flight 634, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, made a safe landing at LAX at 12:05 PM.
‘The birds’ collision with the Boeing 737’s starboard engine forced airport officials to close the airport’s runway for about 30 minutes while workers checked it for bird remains and parts that may have come off the airplane, said Jenny Wedge, spokeswoman for John Wayne Airport.
Wedge said the flight was probably diverted to Los Angles instead of returning to John Wayne because LAX has a larger runway for pilots to maneuver in case of an emergency, and it’s an American Airlines hub so the plane could be repaired on site.
Wedge said the flight was probably diverted to Los Angles instead of returning to John Wayne because LAX has a larger runway for pilots to maneuver in case of an emergency, and it’s an American Airlines hub so the plane could be repaired on site.’
Initial reports say one of the engines was damaged.
There were no injuries reported. Passengers were put on other flight to DFW.