Bird strike grounds plane

A flight from Hamilton to Sydney was aborted today when the plane hit a bird shortly before take-off.

Witnesses reported seeing smoke coming from the right engine as the Freedom Air plane prepared to take off in the direction of Tamahere at 8.20am. Two rescue engines raced to the plane.

Freedom general manager Stephen Jones said the smoke was probably the burning remains of the bird.

The flight, which was to have left at 7.25am, had already been delayed 55 minutes because of fog. The same plane was three hours late arriving from Sydney earlier today, landing at 3.30am instead of the scheduled 12.30am.

- nzpa