PHOENIX -- A plane flying from Phoenix to Salt Lake City had to make an emergency landing at Sky Harbor International Airport after it hit one or more birds Monday morning.
There reportedly was damage to the windshield of Delta Flight 1232, which left Phoenix at 8:41 a.m.
The pilot declared an emergency after the bird strike, which happened "a considerable distance" from the airport, and then turned around, landing safely at Sky Harbor at 9:01 a.m.
According to a Delta spokesman, there were 127 passengers and five crew members aboard the MD-90.
One person was injured.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said bird strikes happen ever day and that airports and pilots are trained to handle them.
It was a bird strike that forced a US Airways pilot to land his Airbus A320 in New York's Hudson River on January 15, 2009, making worldwide headlines and drawing attention to the potential danger of bird strikes. That plane flew into a flock of birds during takeoff from LaGuardia Airport. All 155 passengers and crews survived the crash and the pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, was hailed as a hero.
