An Air India Boeing 777 en route from Newark to Mumbai had 292 passengers and 21 crew aboard when it took off at 4:36 in the afternoon. Witnesses saw flames shooting from the left engine when flight 144 took off.
Pilots reported problems with the left engine, and twenty-two minutes after taking off, returned to land in Newark.
The landing must have been pretty hard, because tires were blown. The airport’s New Jersey spokeswoman Erica Dumas described it as a “rough landing.” Also, the left engine problems were attributed to a bird strike.
Passengers disembarked and were provided hotel accommodations while they rebooked.
*No ducks were injured in the photoshopping of this B777 windowseat snapshot.