A bird strike forced a JetBlue pilot to turn around his Dominican Republic-bound plane and return to Kennedy Airport yesterday, source said.
The 3:30 p.m. flight had just departed New York on its route to Santiago de los Caballeros when the pilot reported problems to controllers on the ground.
“We had a major — er, not a major bird strike, but really hard on the nose,” the pilot flying JetBlue 831 told an air-traffic controller.
“Well, any bird strike is major for us, but don’t sweat it,” the tower responded.
The JetBlue pilot took the plane on a huge loop above the Atlantic Ocean and landed safely back at Kennedy Airport.
Yesterday’s incident came just days before the four-year anniversary of the city’s most famous bird strike, on Jan. 15, 2009 — when hero Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed his plane on the Hudson River after it was disabled by a bird.