in this case, crews were trained to handle. the aircraft has redundant systems to take care of the problems that were caused by this bird strike. reporter: bird strikes cost the airlines $600 million in damage every year. that s why at denver international airport kendra cross is one of four full-time employees using explosive charges to scare birds away from busy runways. these are what s called a banger. it produces a large, loud burst or bang to kind of get their wings flapping faster and get out of the airfield faster and out of harm s way. reporter: officials believe the plane was hit by a large species bird, not sure what type. they collected tissue samples they will send to the smithsonian in washington, d.c. where experts should be able to make a positive identification on the feathered culprit. clayton sandel, outside denver international airports. the news doesn t stop there. overnight we learned that a united jet returned to the u.s. after a flight attendant notice
sandwiches on delta flights from amsterdam. the latest incident involved a flight from british columbia to toronto. in denver, a united airlines flight was able to land safely after a bird strike as the jet was preparing to land. abc s clayton sandel has more on that story. reporter: it could have been catastrophic, a feathery midair collision. this united 737 with 151 passengers on approach to denver international airport when it collided with what appears to be a large bird. the impact tore a giant diamond-shaped hole in the nose, even ripping off flight sensors. there were no injuries, but the pilots declared an emergency. in april, another bird strike was captured on camera. a passenger on a flight saw a flock of birds fly into an engine. who can forget when geese brought down sully sullenberger s flight into the hudson river? it is always dangerous when an aircraft hits bird.
on to something. it was nothing more than someone s now missing vacation pictures. in fact, united says they now have traced the errant camera to a passenger on board an earlier flight aboard the same plane. now united airlines flight is back in the air safely on the way to geneva. jim avila, abc news, washington. thank you, jim. another airline scare, this one caused by one of those now-infamous bird strikes. a united flight landed safely after colliding with a bird as the plane descended into the airport in denver. check it out the impact actually tore a huge diamond-shaped hole right there in the nose of the aircraft. but there were no injuries on board. you don t think a bird could puncture a plane. kind of stunned by the force of that. i m stunned.