Delta flight returns to Phoenix after bird strike

Pilot declared an emergency after MD-90 hit one or more birds, no injuries

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updated 3:55 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2009

PHOENIX - Authorities say a Delta Air Lines flight headed to Utah has safely returned to Phoenix after one or more birds hit the aircraft.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says Flight 1232 took off from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport around 8:40 a.m. Monday on its way to Salt Lake City.

He says the MD-90 hit one or more birds "a considerable distance" from the airport, and the pilot declared an emergency. The plane landed at Sky Harbor at 9:01 a.m.

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Delta spokesman Anthony Black says 127 passengers and five crew members were aboard. No injuries were reported.

Gregor says bird strikes happen daily and pilots are trained to deal with them.

In January, a US Airways flight crash-landed in the Hudson River after hitting a flock of birds over New York. All 155 people on board were pulled to safety.

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