Plane that experienced ‘loud clunking noise’ lands safely after returning to Eisenhower airport
A plane that departed from Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport on Wednesday evening turned back less than 30 minutes into the flight to land again after reporting mechanical issues, airport police said.
The plane, an Embraer ERJ-145, operating as ExpressJet 4248, landed safely at the airport shortly before 9:15 p.m., according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking website.
According to the site, the plane left Wichita shortly after 8:30 p.m. and got about as far south as Enid, Okla., before making a 180-degree turn back. The pilot reported a “loud clunking noise that sounded like (it was) below and behind the cockpit,” an airport police supervisor said.
An airport police spokesman identified only as Lt. King said, “It’s unknown what the noise was. Possibly had a bird strike or something of that nature that sounded odd to him. There was no obvious damage of any kind, nothing just on a casual inspection that was determined to be wrong.”
The plane will be grounded until a complete investigation is performed, the supervisor said.
Reach Matt Riedl at 316-268-6660 or mriedl@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RiedlMatt.
This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Plane that experienced ‘loud clunking noise’ lands safely after returning to Eisenhower airport."