Witnesses reported hearing loud 'booms' and seeing flames from at least one engine after a plane hit some birds near YXX

The City of Abbotsford says all passengers are safely back at the YXX terminal after an emergency landing on Tuesday

A plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Abbotsford International Airport after a bird strike Tuesday morning

ABBOTSFORD (NEWS 1130) – There’s been a scare on a flight leaving Abbotsford International Airport.

“There was a bird strike at YXX,” Alex Mitchell with the City of Abbotsford confirmed on Tuesday. “The aircraft has, however, landed safely and passengers have been offloaded into the terminal safely.”

There was a birdstrike at YXX – the Aircraft has landed safely passengers have been offloaded into the terminal safely. Updates will be available in the coming hours. — Abbotsford Airport (@yxxairport) September 10, 2019

The Swoop flight was in the air for less than 30 minutes when it was forced to turn around.

Witnesses reported hearing several “booms”, and video from inside the plane shows flames shooting out of at least one of the engines.

A person who was on the plane posted online saying they heard four “thuds,” and then started to smell smoke. That’s apparently when passengers were told the plane hit some geese.

Lovella Schellenberg told NEWS 1130 her son sent her a text message after he heard loud “booms” from the plane.

“I just walked out to the airport — we live just west of the airport — and when I got there, emergency vehicles were just arriving,” she said. “One police car had blocked off the road into the airport, and then soon there was several other emergency vehicles that arrived.”

She said she stood still for a minute or two, and then spotted the plane.

“At first, I could see just a little trail of smoke coming out of one of the engines, but that stopped right away,” Schellenberg added. “There was lots of emergency vehicles around — it looked like they had everything in place exactly as they should. It was a good ending to that story.”

In an email to NEWS 1130, Swoop said “The aircraft has subsequently been removed from service for further inspection.

“We are working on reaccommodation options for the 176 impacted travellers and will provide updates as available,” the statement reads. “Safety is our number one priority and will always be at the forefront of our decision making. We apologize for the inconvenience to our impacted travellers. ”

-With files from Mike Lloyd and Peter Wagner