On May 28, 2023, an Air France A350-900 flying the AF291 route between Osaka-Kansai (KIX) in Japan and Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) was forced to declare an emergency and land at the departure airport after presumably suffering damage to its nose cone from a bird hit.
The pilots reported a technical issue impacting the aircraft’s weather radar and speedometer about 30 minutes into the flight, by which time the aircraft had already reached its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet.
Pictures of the A350 taxiing at Osaka-Kansai following the emergency landing have surfaced on social media; the aircraft’s nose cone is clearly damaged, most likely as a result of the bird strike experienced during takeoff.
The aircraft, with the registration F-HTYO, had only recently begun operation with Air France and was carrying 324 passengers in addition to the crew when the event occurred.
AF291 ノーズ部分バチクソやられてるやん pic.twitter.com/YP6jzlm2qf
— #Sironofu🦈 (@White_An124) May 28, 2023
