A SriLankan Airlines flight to London Heathrow abandoned its take-off at Katunayake on Wednesday after a bird was ingested into one of its engines. Everyone aboard disembarked safely, a replacement aircraft left at 4.30 p.m., and the Civil Aviation Authority has opened a special investigation.
Flight UL503 had been scheduled to depart Bandaranaike International Airport for London at 12.55 p.m.
The aircraft did not get airborne
The three filings do not agree on this point, and it is the central fact of the story.
NewsFirst, whose report is the most specific, says the incident happened while the aircraft was taxiing on the runway in preparation for the flight, when a bird was ingested into the right engine. The flight crew acted immediately on detecting the problem, brought the aircraft to a safe stop on the runway, and then disembarked all passengers.
The Daily Mirror’s account agrees: a suspected bird strike affected one of the engines during take-off, the pilots rejected the take-off and taxied the aircraft back to the parking stand.
Hiru News gives a different sequence — that the aircraft departed and the pilot then took steps to land it back at Katunayake after striking a bird shortly after departure.
The Daily Mirror’s own headline and summary line also describe the aircraft as having “returned to Katunayake Airport shortly after take-off”, which contradicts the body of its own report.
This desk follows the two accounts that describe a rejected take-off. NewsFirst and the Daily Mirror’s body text independently describe the same thing — the take-off was abandoned and the aircraft stopped — and NewsFirst places the aircraft on the runway rather than in the air. A rejected take-off and a return to the airport after getting airborne are materially different events, and readers should know the outlets split on it.
Who was on board
The filings also differ on the count.
- NewsFirst: 269 people in total, including 15 crew members.
- Hiru: 269 passengers and 15 crew — a total of 284 — among them four small children.
That is a difference of 15 people, and it turns on whether the crew are inside or outside the 269. Neither outlet is in a position to be checked against the other here, and the Daily Mirror gives no figure at all.
No injuries were reported by any outlet.
What happened next
SriLankan arranged a replacement aircraft and crew. The Daily Mirror reported the departure rescheduled for 4.30 p.m.; NewsFirst, filing at 4.46 p.m., reported that the replacement aircraft had departed for London at 4.30 p.m.
Passengers were disembarked and given refreshments while the arrangements were made, Hiru reports, before being transferred to the other aircraft. Hiru adds that the damaged aircraft — which it identifies as an Airbus A330 — has been sent for repairs.
The airline said the safety of passengers and crew remained its highest priority and that all necessary safety requirements would be met, and apologised to passengers for the inconvenience, thanking them for their patience. NewsFirst reports the airline crediting the swift actions of the pilots and ground personnel for the outcome.
The regulator is involved
NewsFirst alone reports that the Civil Aviation Authority has launched a special investigation into the incident, to determine the circumstances of the bird strike and assess the damage to the aircraft. Neither the Daily Mirror nor Hiru mentions a regulatory inquiry.
Not reported
No filing says what species of bird was involved, whether the airport’s bird-control measures were in operation, or whether Katunayake has a recent history of bird strikes. None gives the extent of the engine damage, how long the aircraft is expected to be out of service, or what the repair will involve.
None says how long the replacement aircraft took to prepare, how late UL503 eventually arrived in London, or whether connecting passengers were affected. No filing states whether the runway was closed and for how long, or whether other flights were delayed. The Civil Aviation Authority’s timetable for reporting is not given.
Multi-source — three verified newsrooms. NewsFirst, the Daily Mirror and Hiru News all filed within about 40 minutes of each other. They agree on the flight number, the route, the scheduled departure time, the bird strike, the engine, the safe disembarkation and the 4.30 p.m. replacement. They disagree on whether the aircraft became airborne and on the number of people aboard, as set out above. Ada Derana has returned an HTTP 403 block to this desk for some 48 consecutive days.
