BIRDSTRIKE DAMAGES JPATS ENGINE; NO INJURIES

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001602

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR KHLS CVIS HO FAA
SUBJECT: BIRDSTRIKE DAMAGES JPATS ENGINE; NO INJURIES


1. A Department of Homeland Security Boeing 737 completing a
Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS)
mission to Honduras encountered a vulture on takeoff from
Tegucigalpa's Toncontin airport yesterday. The bird was
sucked into the plane's number two engine, setting the
engine on fire. The pilot shut down the engine, and rather
than attempt to return to Toncontin's notoriously short
runway, flew on to make an emergency landing in San Pedro
Sula. There were no passenger injuries or damages to the
plane except for the engine, which will be replaced. The
plane is currently undergoing repairs at the San Pedro Sula
airport.


2. The flight, which originated in Alexandria, Louisiana,
was one of the regularly scheduled JPATS missions returning
deportees to Honduras. The plane had dispatched a group of
deportees yesterday in Tegucigalpa and was on its way to San
Pedro Sula's Ramon Villeda Morales airport for refueling
when it struck the vulture. Another JPATS flight was
diverted from Guatemala to pick up the crew members and U.S.
immigration officials in San Pedro Sula and return them to
the U.S.

Tuebner