Hole in plane after bird strike at Heathrow Airport

An Egyptair plane was left with a large hole in the nose cone after it hit a bird during landing at Heathrow Airport.

The plane was carrying 71 passengers at the time of the incident, which occurred on Friday evening, according to the Daily Mail.

See also: Plane engine catches fire on takeoff after bird strike

See also: Bird strike leaves hole in Southwest Airlines plane wing

The plane managed to land safely despite the hit.

Pictures of the damage emerged online and show a rather gruesome bloody dent on the plane.

The Independent reports that Amir Hashim, a Senior Procurement Specialist for Egyptair, first posted the images on Facebook.

He wrote:"SU-GDZ operating yesterday evening's MS779 arrival suffered a bird strike on approach.

"The damage caused is clearly evident and SU-GDZ will be grounded until a new radome is fitted. Now, who has a spare?"

The Aviation Herald reports that it took 21 hours before the plane could fly back to Cairo.

It said: "The aircraft was unable to depart for its return flight MS-780. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 21 hours, then returned to Cairo as flight MS-1780, but has not yet resumed service about 35 hours after the bird strike."

According to the Daily Telegraph, the plane was able to fly back to Cairo after being fitted with a new radome, which protects antenna from atmospheric and physical damage.