The cargo airplane Ilyushin 1176 that took off from the M.R. Štefánik airport in Bratislava on April 4 started having problems soon afterwards, the TASR newswire wrote.
The pilot reported to the flight dispatching authorities in the tower of the Air Navigation Services Provider (Letové prevádzkové Služby SR, in Slovak) that the plane had collided with a bird, and announced he would fly back to Bratislava.
“As the plane was completely filled with fuel, it needed to decrease its weight to a level necessary for landing, and thus, the pilot had to circle above the capital to use part of the fuel,” Bratislava airport spokesperson Veronika Ševčíková told the TASR.
The pilot managed to land safely at the BTS. “This was not a emergency landing,” Ševčíková noted, adding that they cannot render more detailed information about the flight, as this was not a public, but rather cargo flight.
