Aug. 11, 2026Updated Aug. 12, 2026, 9:49 p.m. ET
Flames shot out of an American Airlines plane that struck birds while taking off from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, forcing the aircraft to turn back and make an emergency landing.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday. We’ve got an engine problem here,” the pilot of flight 1760 reported shortly after takeoff, according to video footage from the incident circulating on social media.
The North Carolina-bound flight, which departed from Myrtle Beach International Airport around 8:40 a.m. local time on Monday, Aug. 10, had 181 aboard, of whom 172 were passengers, according to the airline. No injuries were reported.
Here’s more on the incident.
Passengers transferred to replacement aircraft
American Airlines, in a statement to USA TODAY on Aug. 11, said the flight returned to Myrtle Beach “shortly after departure due to a maintenance issue.”
“The aircraft landed safely and has been taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team,” the statement reads, noting that passengers were sent to Charlotte on a replacement aircraft.
The airline also thanked “team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding.”
The airline, however, made no mention of a bird strike or an engine fire.
The Federal Aviation Administration, in a statement on Tuesday, Aug. 11, said the flight crew “reported striking a bird while departing,” and that the agency will investigate the incident.
“We’ve got a lot of bird debris out here. We’re going to grab as many big pieces as we can,” operations workers were heard saying on the radio, CNN reported.
Flight operations at airport not impacted
Myrtle Beach Airport, in an Aug. 11 statement, said that “crew of an outbound commercial air carrier reported possible smoke from an engine shortly after departure,” around 8:15 a.m. local time on Monday, Aug. 11.
“As a precaution, the flight returned to MYR, where emergency response units were dispatched to their designated staging areas,” the statement said. “The aircraft landed safely a few minutes later and proceeded to the assigned terminal gate, where passengers deplaned normally.”
The airport added that its crew “completed an inspection of the runway and taxiway immediately following the landing,” which is standard procedure, and that no flight operations were impacted.
How common are bird strikes?
More than 24,000 wildlife strikes were reported in the United States in 2025, a 9.3% increase from 2024, according to an FAA report.
Mourning doves are the most common species of bird struck, accounting for about 11% of incidents, the FAA said. Waterfowl, such as ducks and geese, account for only 4% of total bird strikes; however, they are “responsible for 27% of the strikes that cause damage to the aircraft,” according to the agency.
The FAA says bird remains recovered from airplane strikes are often sent to the Smithsonian Institution’s lab in Washington, D.C., where they are analyzed to determine the species.
This story was updated to add information.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci / USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@usatodayco.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.