Captain of Flair Airlines 737 injured as birdstrike shatters cockpit window

Details have emerged of an incident involving a Flair Airlines flight in Canada on October 24, 2024. The captain of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft sustained minor injuries following a birdstrike immediately after take-off from Toronto which resulted in a shattered port-side front windscreen panel.

Flair Airlines flight F8641 was departing on a routine scheduled flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) heading to Winnipeg-Richardson International Airport (YWG). The aircraft was cleared for take-off from Toronto’s runway 33L at 13:43 local time for the two-hour and 15-minute flight to Winnipeg.

Following departure, the aircraft climbed to the northwest over the suburb of Brampton, However, at around three minutes after take-off with the aircraft passing an altitude of around 1,220 meters (4,000ft), the aircraft impacted a flock of Canadian Geese. The captain’s windscreen panel was shattered by the impact, with the upper outboard section suffering a full impact puncture. Fragments of the windscreen entered the cockpit, causing minor injuries to the captain in the left-hand flight deck seat.  

24-OCT-2024PILOTS are BLIND. The windshield is shattered after bird strike at Toronto Airport. Real ATCFull video: https://t.co/T05adJNNbm pic.twitter.com/3IDe1BtHaL— YOU CAN SEE ATC (@RealATCComms) October 30, 2024Following the birdstrike, the flight crew transmitted a ‘PAN PAN’ emergency distress call and requested an immediate precautionary return to Toronto-Pearson. The plane performed a single left-hand downwind circuit of the airfield and made a safe landing without further incident back on runways 33L at 14:11, around 28 minutes after take-off.  

Flightradar24According to a report published by Aviation Herald, assistance from ground crews was required to tow the aircraft to the gate, due to reduced forward visibility as a result of the damaged windscreen. A subsequent report issued by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) confirmed that at least one bird had impacted the windscreen, causing damage. The TSB further added that the captain of flight F8641 had sustained minor injuries as a result of the shattered windscreen glass.

The aircraft involved in this incident was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, registered as C-FLKO. According to ch-aviation, this aircraft is 5.4 years old having first been delivered to Flair Airlines in August 2022. The plane is owned by SKY Leasing and is leased through Flair’s parent company, 777 Partners. It is configured to carry 189 passengers in an all-economy class layout.

According to reports, the aircraft remains grounded at Toronto-Pearson Airport over a week after the incident, and its current status is described by ch-aviation as ‘stored’ at the time of writing. 

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