MEA A320 at Beirut on Dec 7th 2025, bird strike

Last Update: December 9, 2025 / 17:38:00 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Dec 7, 2025

Classification
Incident

Cause
Bird strike

Airline
MEA Middle East Airlines

Flight number
ME-326

Departure
Beirut, Lebanon

Destination
Najaf, Iraq

Aircraft Registration
OD-MRS

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

A MEA Airbus A320-200, registration OD-MRS performing flight ME-326 from Beirut (Lebanon) to Najaf (Iraq), was climbing out of Beirut's runway 21 when a bird impacted the aircraft. The aircraft continued the climb, but levelled off at about FL250 due to the failure of their weather radar. The crew inquired with ATC and other aircraft about weather conditions around and subsequently decided to return to Beirut. The aircraft landed safely back on Beirut's runway 16 with a damaged radome about 45 minutes after departure.

The aircraft was able to depart again after about 2 hours on the ground and reached Najaf with a delay of about 2.5 hours.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Dec 7, 2025

Classification
Incident

Cause
Bird strike

Airline
MEA Middle East Airlines

Flight number
ME-326

Departure
Beirut, Lebanon

Destination
Najaf, Iraq

Aircraft Registration
OD-MRS

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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