Bird strike leaves hole in wing of Southwest Airlines plane

A Southwest Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a bird strike reportedly left a hole in one of the plane's wings.

The plane was travelling from San Antonio to Baltimore, and landed safely in Baltimore - but not before a level of panic in the air and on the ground.

According to the Daily Mail, witnesses in Anne Arundel County in Maryland heard a loud noise above and reported seeing flames shooting out of the plane.

A local resident Glenn Young told CBS Local: "It rumbled my house I know that much. She was low and she was on fire. She had flames coming from underneath and on the sides. She was burning. It sounded like a carburetor, a racing car misfiring, sputtering... that's what it sound like and it rocked the house once she went over top.

The plane was carrying 142 passengers at the time of the incident on Friday.

And some took to Twitter to share their experience.

Antonio Wolff wrote: "My view on @SouthwestAir #3118 coming from #SABCS14. Wing hole/dead bird Fantastic crew work!"

Another, Greg Hintz also uploaded a picture:

The aircraft was taken out of service, while passengers headed to Detroit where they were put on another plane.

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