April 25: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati, has said it has not been confirmed yet that the Flydubai airplane suffered a bird strike during its takeoff from Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) on Monday night.    
The aircraft carrying 167 passengers had reportedly caught fire on one of its engines soon after its takeoff from TIA due to a bird strike.

Flububai had stated that its aircraft experienced a bird strike during takeoff from Kathmandu and continued the journey towards its destination after determining that the engine was within the normal operating parameters. The aircraft landed safely at Dubai International Airport three hours later, according to Flydubai.    
Initially, the aircraft was held over the skies in Dhading for sometimes but proceeded to the destination with the assessment that all indicators were normal.    
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) said it has not been confirmed yet that the Boeing 737-800 of Flydubai experienced a bird strike. CAAN Spokesperson Jagannath Niraula said during an inspection of the airport that it could not be established that the aircraft was hit by a bird.

Flydubai is not registered in Nepal and CAAN is not authorized for investing the matter. It will facilitate the investigation procedures to be carried out by the respective country, CAAN said. -- RSS