United Airlines flight back to Chicago

A bird strike shortly after takeoff sent a United Airlines flight back to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Friday, the airline said. Flight 1930, on a Boeing 737-900, was bound for Miami International Airport. "The aircraft landed safely and passengers deplaned at the gate," United Airlines said in a statement. The airline didn't provide details of any potential damage to the plane. Kimberly Fiock was on the flight Friday morning with her husband. "I knew something was wrong because there was fire below the wing that kept coming out in spurts, and it felt like the plane was kind of jerking," Fiock said. "We could hear the pops of the engine trying to start and see the fire on our side since we were right by the wing. The lights kept flickering, too, when it would pop. I was just hoping we would be able to land safely!" Fiock said she didn't realize a bird strike had caused the problem until after the plane landed. "The pilots did a great job getting us back safely, and I'm so grateful to them and the crew," she said. Flight tracking site FlightAware shows that Flight 1930 took off at 10:47 a.m. local time and returned to O'Hare 42 minutes later. A new aircraft was assigned to the flight, the airline said, and it departed early Friday afternoon. According to the FAA, there were more than 17,000 wildlife strikes at 753 US airports in 2019.<br/>