Southwest Airlines jet lands safely at BWI after bird strike
| Linthicum, Md.
A Southwest Airlines jet heading to the Washington area made an emergency landing at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport after being struck by a bird.
Authorities say Southwest Flight 3118 from San Antonio, Texas, landed safely Friday night. Anne Arundel County fire department officials say they were alerted about a plane in distress near Gibson Island in the Chesapeake Bay. The island is about 15 miles southeast of the airport.
Some witnesses told WJZ-TV that they saw a burst of fire from the jet.
“It rumbled my house I know that much. She was low and she was on fire. She had flames coming from underneath and on the sides. She was burning. It sounded like a carburetor, a racing car misfiring, sputtering… that’s what it sound like and it rocked the house once she went over top,” Glenn Young said.
A private pilot, who lives in Pasadena, told WBAL-TV that he saw the plane as it approached BWI-Marshall and he heard a frightening noise.
The airline says the pilot declared an emergency and landed the plane safely. Southwest says the airliner was carrying 142 passengers and a crew of five.
The plane was taken out of service to be inspected.
