Plane forced to land after striking bird

An Arkia Israel Airlines passenger plane was forced to perform an emergency landing at a Negev airstrip on Sunday after hitting a bird.

The plane, which was conducting a charter flight for the Defense Ministry, made a safe landing at the Uvda airfield in the Negev Desert after a “technical problem,” the pilots told Ynet.

Air force crews were prepared with ambulances and firefighting crews at the landing strip, but these proved unnecessary. Nobody was hurt in the incident.