Plane Makes Emergency Landing In Oakland Following Bird Strike

OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- An Alaska Airlines flight bound for Maui was forced to make an emergency landing just after taking off from Oakland International Airport Sunday morning following a bird strike.

Oakland International Airport spokesperson Rosemary Barnes said Alaska Flight 881 took off just before 7:20 when the plane ingested a bird into its engine.

"The pilot elected to make an emergency landing and was able to land safely at Oakland. The incident was secured and the passengers were offloaded," Barnes said. "Keep in mind, that's a five-hour flight to Hawaii so certainly, he needed to take every precaution to get that airplane back on the ground and then evaluate the situation."

No injuries were reported and the carrier was working to get passengers to their destination.

Barnes said the airport does have a program in place to monitor wildlife activity in the area surrounding the airport.

"We have a very involved program for management of wildlife activity at the airport including birds. That program involves removing birds from the runway," she said. "It's a very intensive program to make sure that birds and aircraft do not mix at our airport."

The plane is expected to undergo inspections to determine the extent of the damage.

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