The bird strike took out one of the plane’s four engines, and the U.S. Navy declared it a “Class A mishap,” meaning the event caused more than $2 million in damages, death or permanent disability.
The event occurred on Oct. 2 at 3:12 p.m. ET, during a so-called touch-and-go maneuver, when the E-6B Mercury aircraft struck an as-yet unidentified bird at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. No injuries were reported, and the plane landed safely on the runway at the air station.
Second Major Problem With Such Doomsday Aircraft This Year
The bird strike marks the second Class-A mishap of this type of doomsday aircraft already this year. In February, an E-6B Mercury snagged a hangar while being moved at the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.
http://strangesounds.org/2019/10/bird-takes-down-doomsday-plane-us-navy.html
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