A JET airliner suffered severe damage to its nose just metres from the pilot’s cockpit after striking a flock of birds head on.

Pictures have emerged showing the crumpled nose of a Boeing 737 following the dramatic midair impact yesterday.

The Badr Airlines flight J4341 had just taken off from Ad Damazin, in southeast Sudan, to Khartoum International Airport, in the capital of Sudan.

But amazingly the pilot managed to land safely despite the fact the front of his plane was smashed in.

Photographs taken afterwards show the birds’ carcasses inside the plane.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a British Airways flight was forced to return to Heathrow after suffering suspected engine failure with an onlooker reporting flames coming from an engine after a reported bird strike.

The Boeing 777 turned back minutes after taking off from the West London Airport.

And a packed Japan Airlines plane bound for New York also narrowly avoided disaster recently after hitting a bird shortly after takeoff.

Shocking images showed the left engine engulfed in flames as the plane left the runway.

Occurrences involving aircraft striking wildlife, particularly birds, are the most common aviation occurrence reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

Between 2006 and 2015, there were 16,069 birdstrikes reported to the ATSB, most of which involved high capacity air transport aircraft, which includes commercial flights.

This article originally appeared in The Sun with some additional reporting from news.com.au.