SAN DIEGO — A Southwest Airlines flight leaving San Diego was forced to turn back around after striking a bird Saturday morning.
The plane was headed to Oakland when the strike happened. The strike happened right at lift-off.
In one passenger's video, the pilot is heard telling everyone onboard, “a lot easier to pull over close to San Diego than do it at 40,00 feet all the way in Oakland.”
Shortly after, the pilot of Southwest Airlines Flight 2922 told passengers they hit a bird.
“When we took off, there were birds that we saw on the left and right side of the runway but it’s not a really long runway, so when we continued to take off, I think we hit one of them," he said.
“It’s one of those things you go through and you don’t realize how scary it is until it’s over with and you’re like hm, that could’ve been scary," said passenger Dawn Shetzer.
Shetzer was one of the passengers on the full flight to Oakland.
“Right when we lift off there was a little bump, but it did not surprise me, but then there was a horrible smell and it wasn’t smoke, I wasn’t sure what it was. I kind of looked around nobody else was freaking out. Just a minute or two later, the pilot came on and he said ‘when we took off, I think we hit a bird and that might be what you’re smelling,'" she said.
Shetzer said immediately after, flight attendants did a visual check of the engines. She said there was no smoke or damage visible.
“We made a big turnaround and we landed right away, so they definitely cleared the way for us," she added.
Once on the ground, she said the pilot quickly communicated what had happened.
“He came out of the cabin and stood up, this was after we landed, and he was like ‘can everybody here me, raise your hands in the back’ he just wanted to personally speak about and I think that calmed everybody down," Shetzer said.
In a statement, Southwest Airlines told CBS 8:
“Our Pilots followed trained procedures and safely returned to San Diego following a bird strike on flight #2922. To allow for further inspection, a separate aircraft was brought in to operate the flight to OAK. We apologize to our Customers for the inconvenience and we commend the swift, professional actions of our Flight Crew in response to the event.”
Shetzer said despite the scary situation, she's grateful for the professionalism and quick thinking of the flight crew.
“Kudos to Southwest definitely, I felt well cared for and safe. Southwest was just really outstanding. They way they handled the situation made me feel safe," she said.
The airline did move passengers to a new plane, which took off about an hour and half later, making it safely to Oakland later in the afternoon.
While bird strikes are not uncommon, instances where severe damage happens are rare. The pilot in Saturday's incident told passengers in his 26 years of flying it's happened just three times to him.
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