A United Airlines' plane leaving Shanghai Pudong Airport for Los Angeles was forced to turn back after a bird struck and destroyed one of its engines on Tuesday, Oriental Morning Post reports.

Seaside airports easily fall victim to bird hits as flight routes often conflict with the migratory routes of birds, especially in summer, the high activity season for birds, according to civil aviation experts.[ File photo]

The bird struck while the Boeing 747 was taxiing on the runway. The crew aborted the takeoff and reported the incident to the airport.

The plane was then directed to park and passengers were asked to deplane. There was no reported casualty, and other flights at the airport were not affected.

This is the second bird clash at Pudong Airport in one week. A China Spring Airlines plane was struck by birds shortly after it departed for Hong Kong on Sunday, and the plane had to return to the airport on a single engine as its other engine stopped working due to the incident. Luckily, no passenger or crew was injured, but the flight was delayed for more than four hours.

Seaside airports easily fall victim to bird hits as flight routes often conflict with the migratory routes of birds, especially in summer, the high activity season for birds, according to civil aviation experts.

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