About seven minutes after take-off from the Salt Lake City International Airport on Thursday, a SkyWest Airlines passenger plane bound for Friedman Memorial Airport struck a bird at about 2,500 feet, forcing the plane to return to Salt Lake for a maintenance check up.
"Safety is our first concern," said Sabrina Suite, a SkyWest spokeswoman. Suite said the bird collided with the nose cone of the aircraft. "There wasn't much left of the bird."
The flight, No. 3669, initially left Salt Lake at 9:30 a.m., and departed again at 10:20 a.m. after it was determined the aircraft sustained no damage. The plane, a Brasilia 120 Turboprop carrying 19 passengers and three crew members, arrived behind schedule in Hailey at 11:34 a.m. This delayed departing flight No. 3670 to Salt Lake in the same plane to 11:55 a.m. From Salt Lake the aircraft continued on to Cody, Wyo., Suite said.