China Cargo Airlines Boeing 777 Returns To New York After Bird Strike Disables Engine

A China Cargo Airlines Boeing 777F was forced to return to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) shortly after take off as a bird strike disabled the widebody’s right-hand engine. The aircraft, registered as B-220F, remains at JFK since the incident happened on November 27, 2023.

Bird strike

According to Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio, published by VASAviation, the China Cargo Airlines Boeing 777F was initially told to climb to 11,000 feet (3,352 meters), but the pilots requested to climb to 5,000 ft (1,524 m). Affirming the request to 11,000 ft (3,352 m), the crew told ATC that they encountered a bird strike shortly after they became airborne, resulting in a right-hand engine failure of the 777F. While the pilots never squawked 77000, the general emergency code, they declared PAN-PAN to inform controllers that they had an urgent emergency onboard, reiterating a right-hand engine failure. Subsequently, the China Cargo Airlines 777F once again requested to hold at 5,000 ft (1,524 m), also asking whether it was possible to return to JFK.

Once the aircraft was allowed to maintain an altitude of 6,000 ft (1,828 m), it began to turn away from New York to dump fuel since it had 110 tons of fuel onboard, making it too heavy to land. According to Boeing, the Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) of the 777F is 766,800 pounds (347,815 kilograms), while the Maximum Landing Weight (MLW) is 575,000 lbs (260,816 kg), with a maximum useable fuel quantity of 47,890 gallons (181,283 liters or 145 tons). As a result, the pilots had to lose weight in order not to increase the safety risk when landing with the aircraft.

According to Flightradar24 data, the aircraft entered a holding pattern east of JFK and above the Atlantic Ocean at around 18:17 local time (UTC -5) and exited it at around 18:41. While initially, ATC offered the pilots to land on runway 22L or runway 22LR, the China Cargo Airlines crew requested to land on runway 31L.

The aircraft landed at JFK at 18:53, taxiing to the gate without further incident. None of the four crew members onboard the Boeing 777F were injured during the incident, and as mentioned above, the aircraft has still been at the airport since the incident occurred.

Boeing 777F-based fleet

China Cargo Airlines’ fleet is comprised mainly of Boeing 777F aircraft. Of the 16 freighters, 14 are the Triple Sevens, while the Chinese carrier also operates two Boeing 747-400Fs. According to ch-aviation data, the China Eastern Airlines cargo subsidiary took delivery of B-220F in October 2020, with the aircraft being owned by China Construction Bank (CCB) Financial Leasing.

Photo: Bjoern Wylezich | Shutterstock

Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries data showed that between January 2020 and October 2023, it had delivered only 34 aircraft to China-based customers, including leasing firms. Out of those, 20 were Boeing 777Fs, with Air China Cargo and China Cargo Airlines taking delivery of one aircraft each, while China Postal Airlines and China Southern Airlines introduced three and four 777Fs, respectively.

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