An Air India Airbus A320 aircraft suffered an engine issue and performed a rejected takeoff after it collided with birds during takeoff from Raipur Airport (RPR), India.
The incident occurred on September 14, 2021, when the Air India Airbus A320-200 aircraft, registered as VT-EXB, was supposed to perform a regular domestic flight from Raipur to Delhi, India. According to the flightradar24.com data, the jet took off from Raipur Airport (RPR) at 9:50 a.m. (UTC) and was scheduled to land at Delhi Airport (DEL) at 11:35 a.m. (UTC), but as soon as the plane accelerated for a takeoff from runway 24, the incident happened.
The VT-EXB collided with a bird, and the flight crew immediately performed a rejected takeoff procedure. Due to damages to the aircraft, all 179 passengers on board were asked to disembark the jet after it returned to the apron. Fortunately, no further incidents were reported.
During an initial inspection of the Air India plane and the runway, airport officials found some bird remnants stuck in the aircraft engine and on the surface of the runway.
However, the severity of the damages following the encounter has not been disclosed yet.