RAF tornado forced to make emergency landing after bird strike

A Tornado jet has had to make an emergency landing at a Scottish airport after a bird strike.

The GR4 aircraft from Norfolk's RAF Marham landed at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, following the incident shortly after 10.30pm yesterday.

The two-person jet, which was on a training mission, was still at the airport this afternoon, being checked over by engineers.

It is not yet known if it suffered any damage as a result of the incident.

An RAF spokesman said: "The two-seater aircraft was on a standard training mission in Scotland.

"It had a bird strike. The crew were aware of it and they made a precautionary landing into Prestwick.

"The aircraft is still there and it's awaiting engineering assistance before recovery."

It is not clear how long the jet will remain at the airport, the spokesman added.

He said the aircraft, carrying a pilot and a weapons systems operator, would have been in the vicinity of Prestwick when the crew made the decision to divert to the airport.

"It landed safely and both crew are fine," he added.

Prestwick Airport said its emergency procedures swung into action after it was made aware of the plan to land the jet.

A spokesman said: "An RAF Tornado experienced a bird strike and declared mayday at 10.36pm last night.

"Prestwick declared emergency so all the emergency services were there to await the aircraft, which arrived 10 minutes later.

"It landed safely at 10.46pm. The emergency was called off, and everyone stood down, at 11pm precisely."

PA