Pock Marked-Fuselage Shows Impact of Bird Hit on Turkish Cargo Flight

The front fuselage of a Turkish Airlines cargo flight endured deep pock marks as it hit a flock of birds soon after take-off in Istanbul on Sunday.

A Turkish Airlines (THY) cargo plane flying from Istanbul to Kazakhstan's Almaty city Sunday made an emergency landing in Istanbul as it encountered a flock of birds shortly after taking off from Ataturk Airport. It discharged fuel for about half an hour on the Sea of Marmara to reach a certain weight for an emergency landing.

An image published by Anadolu Agency shows the front part of the fuselage below the cockpit windows splattered with bird remains and deep pockmarks in some places.

Usually, the main threat to aviation comes from birds being ingested into the engines. However, in this case no damage to the engines was reported and the impact appears to be on the fuselage only.