Bird strike causes Utair flight to return to Vnukovo airport

A Utair airliner headed from Moscow to Ufa, the capital of Russia’s Bashkortostan Region, returned to its departure airport on Friday after a bird hit its windshield, the air carrier’s press service reported.

"The Moscow-Ufa flight returned to Vnukovo after suffering a bird strike shortly after takeoff. A bird hit its windshield. The aircraft landed safely. The airline is changing the plane," TASS cited the press service as saying.

It noted that the flight to Ufa is scheduled to depart at 15:30 Moscow time.