Suspected bird strike forces NWA emergency landing

A suspected bird strike shortly after takeoff forced a Northwest Airlines flight to make an emergency landing Sunday at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, officials said. No one was injured.

Flight 1546 took off for Minneapolis just before 9 a.m. but quickly landed after the pilot heard a noise, airport spokeswoman Mindy Hamlin said.

Northwest spokeswoman Leslie Parker said a bird apparently struck the left engine and pilots shut it down. Northwest was rebooking passengers on other flights. Parker said the plane had 148 passengers and five crew members.

The type of bird and other details were not immediately released.

Bird-aircraft collisions are not unusual, but they are being more scrutinized since Charlotte-bound US Airways Flight 1549 ditched into the Hudson River in January after striking a flock of Canada geese after takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Both engines on that aircraft were knocked out and all 155 people aboard survived.

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