Southwest Airlines Flight in Fort Lauderdale Suffers Bird Strike

A Southwest Airlines flight suffered a bird strike not long after departure from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Incident: Southwest Airlines Flight in Fort Lauderdale Suffers Bird Strike…

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Southwest Airlines flight WN1416 is a routine scheduled flight between Fort Lauderdale and Austin, with the affected rotation being operated by N232WN.

As per data from Planespotters.net, N232WN is a 17.9 year old Boeing 737-700 that was delivered to the airline back in March 2006.

Of the 737-700 variant, the U.S based carrier has 387 of them in the fleet, of which 369 are in active service and 18 are currently parked, offering an average age of 18.4 years.

Southwest Airlines flight WN1416 departed Fort Lauderdale at 1118 local time on December 27 and made it’s initial turn towards Austin.

As per The Aviation Herald, WN1416 suffered a bird strike following it’s departure from Runway 28L, forcing the aircraft to return back to the Florida-based airport.

Landing was completed around 35 minutes after departure, with N232WN grounded as a result of the incident, with N418WN utilised as the replacement, landing back into Austin with a delay of under eight and a half hours.

N232WN remained on the ground for around 28 hours, before the damage was fixed and the aircraft was allowed to return back to commercial service from Fort Lauderdale.

If a bird strike happens, in most cases, the damage is not an instant danger to the aircraft, but a return will always be needed in case the problem materialises.