BARCELONA EL PRAT AIRPORT (BCN) – Early in the morning on May 5, 2018 a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 was almost touching down on runway 25R when a flock of seagulls were hit by the aircraft. A few were ingested in both of the aircrafts engines. It was quite remarkable that the engines weren’t damaged by the massive birdstrike. The runway was inspected after the aircraft landed and many dead seagulls were found on the runway. At least 20 seagulls were killed during the landing.

The runway remained closed for 1 hour, while it was being cleaned and re-inspected. Runway 25L was the only one in use for both arrivals and departures. All aircraft on approach behind the Ryanair B737 were forced to go around and land on the other runway, which the airport opened immediately after the incident.

The Ryanair B737 departed later that morning from Barcelona El Prat Airport, after the engines were inspected and cleaned.

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(Top image: from Barcelona – El Prat Int’l ✈ on YouTube)