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29 March 2024

Bird strike halts Royal Brunei's Dubai take-off

Published
By Bindu Suresh Rai

A bird strike has grounded a Royal Brunei flight bound for Dubai from London Heathrow, with passengers still stranded as repairs are underway.

The flight, scheduled for Brunei, with a Dubai stopover, was scheduled to depart August 17 at 5.50pm London time and was scheduled to land in the emirate at 3.45am for a 1.5-hour layover.

However, pre-departure inspections revealed ‘technical difficulties caused by a bird strike’, according to a Royal Brunei statement, forcing the carrier to ground its flight to repair the damage.

The airline stated that passengers of flight BI098 are being accommodated in London, saying: “Due to peak season, passengers in London and Dubai are provided accommodations at local hotels prior to re-routing.”

This is the second incident for a Dubai-bound flight in a little over six months with the carrier, with an investigation by the Department for Transport’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch revealing earlier this month that part of the plane’s engine fell from 15,000 feet post its ascent from Heathrow.

The Boeing 777 flight last December had 256 passengers and 12 crew on board, when the crew reportedly heard a noise and felt vibrations from one of its two Rolls Royce Trent turbofan engines.

As a precaution, the pilot turned the plane around to Heathrow, whereupon landing it was discovered that parts of the engine were missing; they had fallen into the village of Broxbourne, Heretfordshire.

No one was injured in the earlier incident.

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)