A Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit created a stir among passengers when it landed in Tampa on Sunday afternoon with a sizable dent in its nose.
Northwest called it "a minor maintenance issue" in a statement released Sunday.
Tampa International Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said the aircraft collided with a bird. There were no injuries and the pilot did not request emergency vehicles to be on hand when making the landing, she said.
However, the incident with Northwest Airlines Flight 478, which left Detroit about 2 p.m., delayed passengers traveling from Tampa to Minneapolis.
"I may be late for school," said Peter Brylinke, who had a flight booked on the Boeing 757 to his home in Minneapolis after spending the Fourth of July weekend in Tampa. "The plane was sitting on the runway with a smashed-in nose. It looked like it crashed into a wall."
Northwest spokeswoman Kristin Baur said the airline stands by its statement and did not say whether the airplane struck something while in the air. The incident is under investigation.
Flight 478 left Detroit with 182 passengers, Baur said. Passengers who booked flights from Tampa to Minneapolis were offered compensation packages, she said.
When the plane landed, passengers exiting the plane and others about to board "wondered what was going on," Brylinke said. When he saw the dent, Brylinke knew he had to book another flight.
"There was no way I was getting on that plane," he said. "This is a pretty odd situation."
The Boeing 757 is one of the most common commercial aircraft in use. The nose, which is made of a carbon fiber, houses radar that scans for weather.
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