A passenger plane flying to Paris was forced to make an emergency landing just moments after takeoff from Madrid Airpost, leaving passengers in panic.The emergency landing was prompted with a bird colliding into the plane’s nose. Chaotic scenes from inside the plane were captured by a passenger on the plane who recounted the moments of fear while talking to ABC News saying that they intially believed it to be just turbulence. “We thought that it was the turbulence that the captain was talking about, but then we started hearing a noise… and we were like, okay, something’s going on,” said passenger Giancarlo Sandoval.Another video shared on social media captured nearly half of the plane’s nose being wiped out. Sandoval documented the alarming moments in the air as passengers donned oxygen masks amidst smoke filling the cabin.
During the incident, a baby was heard hysterically crying in the background as scared passengers sat frozen in silence.Following the incident, Iberia released the following statement assuring safety of all involved. “The entire flight crew, including pilots and cabin crew, acted with the utmost professionalism in managing the situation and attending to the passengers,” it said.ABC News contributor Col. Steve Ganyard, USMC (Ret.), stated that bird strikes are very common. “Fewer than 10% of those bird strikes cause damage to the aircraft,” Ganyard said, “In this case, the damage was severe enough to one of the engines that it caused smoke coming into the cabin,” it added.The flight destined for Paris Orly Airport in France returned safely to Spain’s capital after being airborne for only 20 minutes, NY Post sources reported. The situation calmed when the plane landed safely, leading passengers to clap in relief.
