El Al B739 at Berlin on Mar 17th 2014, flock of birds

An El Al Boeing 737-900, registration 4X-EHB performing flight LY-352 from Berlin Schoenefeld (Germany) to Tel Aviv (Israel), was climbing out of Schoenefeld's runway 25R when the crew stopped the climb at about 3600 feet, subsequently declared Mayday reporting bird strikes into both engines, both engines not (yet) showing abnormal readings. The aircraft was cleared to 5500 feet and was vectored for a return to Schoenefeld. While positioning for the approach the crew reported trouble with one of the engines. The aircraft landed safely on Schoenefeld's runway 25R about 30 minutes after departure. The aircraft received substantial damage to nose cone and leading edge of wing.

A Boeing 747-400 freighter registration 4X-ELF performed an unscheduled flight LY-803 to Berlin Schoenefeld the following day and delivered a new engine as well as a new nose cone for 4X-EHB.

Passenger Primoz Brezec reported the crew announced 4 birds hat hit the aircraft.

The airline reported maintenance identified 6 birds had impacted the aircraft, only the right hand engine ingested birds and sustained substantial damage. Three leading edge devices were damaged, one of them fractured, and the captain's pitot tube was damaged as result of the bird strikes.

Passenger Photo of wing (Photo: Primoz Brezec):

The new engine and nose cone arriving in Schoenefeld: