TNI AU Su-30MK crew saved aircraft after bird strike

A Indonesian Air Force Su-30MK suffered an inflight left engine failure after take off on Apr. 7 and the crew skillfully recovered the aircraft.

Photo: TNI AU

The jet, flown by Lt. Col. Anton Palaguna and Lt. Ahmad Finandika, was practicing for the anniversary of the Indonesian Air Force when the it had a bird strike.

The ingress of the bird at 700-800 feet in the air caused five explosions in the port-side engine and the pilot had to shut it down.

Lt. Col. Anton then circled in the air to burn off excess fuel before landing with full thrust on the remaining engine.