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New York City — A possible bird strike just after takeoff forced an American Airlines passenger jet Thursday night to make an emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, officials said.
American Airlines Flight 1722 had taken off from LaGuardia Airport, and was bound for Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, when it was diverted to JFK Airport just after 10 p.m. local time due to a “reported bird strike,” the airline confirmed to CBS News in a statement.
There were no reported injuries among the nearly 200 people aboard the Airbus A321.
“We are grateful to our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this may have caused,” the airline said.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident and said in a statement that it was investigating.
Cell phone video provided to CBS News captured a flash that may have been birds striking one of the plane’s engines.
“Pilots are definitely trained to fly on a single engine, so everything worked the way that it should work last evening,” Robert Sumwalt, former chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told CBS News Friday.
Back in 2009, the “Miracle on the Hudson” involved a bird strike, and a plane taking the same route as Thursday’s American Airlines jet. All 155 people were rescued in that incident, and pilot Sully Sullenberger became an instant aviation hero.
More than 19,000 bird strikes were reported across the U.S. in 2023 at more than 700 airports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which maintains a database where it records collisions between aircraft and wildlife.
In April, a bird strike which caused the engine to catch fire forced an American Airlines plane from Columbus, Ohio, to Phoenix, Arizona, to return to Columbus about 30 minutes after takeoff.
“Birds are still flying, and they will always be flying, and airplanes will always be flying,” Sumwalt said. “So the trick is to keep those two separated.”
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Washington — President-elect Donald Trump has been ordered by a federal judge to sit for a deposition next week in his defamation lawsuit against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Magistrate Judge Lisette Reid issued the order on Friday saying Trump will have to give an in-person deposition next week as part of the lawsuit he filed against ABC News in March that alleged Stephanopoulos made defamatory comments on air.
In a March 10 interview with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Stephanopoulos said that Trump had been “found liable for rape.”
Last year, a jury in New York found Trump liable for sexual abuse of the writer E. Jean Carroll and defaming her with statements he made denying Carroll’s allegations. The judge who heard the case said the sexual abuse that Trump was found liable for — forcibly penetrating Carroll with his fingers — is commonly understood as “rape,” even though the statute defines it as a separate offense.
In his complaint, Trump accused Stephanopoulos of acting “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth,” and claimed Stephanopoulos “knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false.”
Judge Reid said Trump’s deposition will be in person next week in the Southern District of Florida, which is where his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach is located. The questioning will be limited to four hours, Reid said.
Reid also ordered Stephanopoulos to sit for a deposition next week, either in person or remotely. His deposition is also limited to four hours.
Shawna Mizelle and
contributed to this report.
