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An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in New York City following a bird strike shortly after takeoff.
Flight 1722 – which was carrying 190 customers and six crew members – left LaGuardia Airport and was heading to Charlotte, N.C. on Thursday night before being diverted to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Airbus A321 was following the same route that US Airways Flight 1549 took in January 2009 when it struck birds after takeoff and was forced to land in the Hudson River. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger guided that plane to a safe landing in an event known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
“I was scared. I thought I was going to die. There were a couple of small explosions. And there was a fire,” Amy Stamper, a passenger onboard Thursday’s plane, told the New York Post.
AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT RETURNS TO CHICAGO AIRPORT AFTER ‘POSSIBLE MAINTENANCE ISSUE’ MID-FLIGHT
An American Airlines Airbus A321 departs Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 1. An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in New York City on Thursday after striking a bird following takeoff. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images / Getty Images)
American Airlines told FOX Business that there were no reports of injuries. In a video posted on X purportedly showing the bird strike, flames could be seen coming out of one of its engines during the moment of impact.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL | AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. | 14.64 | 0.00 | 0.00% |
“American Airlines Flight 1722 with service from New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to Charlotte (CLT) diverted to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) due to a reported bird strike,” the airline said. “The aircraft landed safely at JFK, where it will be inspected by our maintenance team. We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this may have caused.”
Former US Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger of U.S. Airways flight 1549 stands in front of the plane’s fuselage at Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, N.C., on June 11, 2011. (Reuters/Jim R. Bounds / Reuters)
The flight is expected to re-depart for Charlotte Friday morning, and customers were given hotel accommodations following the incident Thursday.
“There were people who were scared. I was a little scared. . . . It kind of felt like how a car would backfire. Rocking a little,” another passenger told the New York Post. “At first, I didn’t think much of it. But then I saw other people [reacting] around me and thought, ‘This might be bad’.”
American Airlines planes sit parked at LaGuardia airport in New York City on Wednesday, Nov. 27. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton / Reuters)
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The passenger said the flight attendants onboard the plane did a good job comforting passengers who were in distress.
Fox News’ Melissa Summers contributed to this report.
