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Published: Tue, July 08, 2008 - 11:12 am
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is looking for the cause of a dent in the nose of a Northwest Airlines Boeing 757 that landed safely at 1:10 p.m. Sunday at Tampa International Airport.Neither the FAA nor the airline has determined whether the damage was the result of an unexplained structural failure, lightning or another cause.
Initial news reports Sunday indicated that a collision with a bird may have caused the damage to the radome, which covers the radar antenna in the nose of the aircraft. It is made of composite material to allow radar signals to pass through.
An FAA spokeswoman said the Northwest crew did not report striking a bird and the incident was reported when the plane was flying higher than where birds are normally encountered.
The flight was descending into Tampa International Airport at an altitude of 18,000 feet when the flight crew heard a "bang" and then found the radar inoperative, said Kathleen Bergen of FAA Southern Region headquarters in Atlanta.
"The crew did not report a bird strike but did tell ATC [air traffic control] that the radome collapsed," Bergen said. "The crew suspected a radome issue and slowed speed."
The crew notified Air Traffic Control that all other indications were normal. After the plane landed safely, controllers in the air traffic control tower noticed a large dent in the radome. The aircraft taxied to the gate and the radome and radar were removed for analysis.
Photographs of the dent on Northwest Flight 478 reveal a symmetrical circular pattern, but there is no sign of blood, which often is present after a bird strike. Also, the damage did not resemble the irregular pattern that lightning can cause on a radome.
Crews are required to report these incidents to the FAA's principal maintenance inspector for the airline and to file the problem in the aircraft logbook, Bergen said.
A Northwest spokesman said the incident was a "minor maintenance issue, a rare occurrence."
"There is an ongoing investigation to determine the cause, and we don't want to speculate before that is completed," said Vin Parker, manager of media relations for Northwest in Eagan, Minn.
Flight 478 was on a nonstop flight Sunday with 182 passengers traveling from Detroit to Tampa, Parker said.
Repairs were made in Tampa to the aircraft, which was scheduled for a flight to Minneapolis today.
Initial news reports of the incident Sunday apparently resulted from a report of preliminary communications with Tampa airport operations officials that indicated the possibility of a bird strike.
In an unrelated incident Sunday involving the same type of aircraft, a Continental Airlines Boeing 757 bound for England returned safely to Newark, N.J., shortly after takeoff when the plane was struck by lightning. Passengers described the strike as a "huge explosion."
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Read the other article where it says it WASN’T a bird at all!