An American Airlines Boeing 737-800 returned to Myrtle Beach International Airport in South Carolina on Monday 10 August 2026 after the crew reported striking birds while departing for Charlotte, North Carolina12. The pilot declared a mayday and asked for a priority return1. Flames were seen coming from the left engine, CBS News reported3, but American Airlines said there was no indication of a fire in the engine2. The aircraft landed safely and no injuries were reported1. For pilots, the flight is a reminder that take-off and initial climb are among the phases in which bird strikes are most likely4.

What happened on flight 1760

The aircraft was operating American Airlines flight 1760 from Myrtle Beach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement to Fox News Digital2. AeroInside, which publishes reports under licence from The Aviation Herald, gives the registration as N825NN and reports that the aircraft was climbing out of runway 18 when the crew declared mayday, reporting a malfunction of the captain's side (left) engine and adding that they may have hit birds about mid runway5. "In the middle of the runway, everybody heard a big bang," passenger John Richter told CBS News3. On the frequency, the pilot reported: "Mayday, mayday, mayday. We've got a engine problem here"3. Another pilot told air traffic control that he saw smoke coming from the left engine after the aircraft hit a flock of birds, according to ABC News1.

According to AeroInside, the crew stopped the climb at 2,000 feet and landed back on runway 18 about 20 minutes after departure5. The Post and Courier reported that 181 people were on board, 172 of them passengers, according to the airline6. Open ADS-B data from adsb.lol for the aircraft's transponder address show it airborne southbound at 08:11 local time, levelling off at about 2,000 feet, flying a wide circuit east, north along the coast, then west and back south, and descending onto the runway 18 approach at about 08:307. Those data show no emergency transponder code; the emergency was declared by radio73. While the aircraft was in the air, airport operations staff found bird remains on the runway. "We've got a lot of bird debris out here. We're going to grab as many big pieces as we can," they said on the radio, according to a CNN report published by WRAL8.

Flames, but no fire

American Airlines described the return as a maintenance issue. "American Airlines Flight 1760 returned to Myrtle Beach (MYR) 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 airline told Fox News Digital2. The airline also said there was no indication of a fire in the engine2, and the airline told ABC News that no fire or leaks were found during inspections after landing1. The FAA said the crew "reported striking a bird while departing" and that it will investigate6. Despite the airline's statement, some passengers told WMBF that people sitting towards the back of the aircraft saw flames coming from the left engine, WBTV reported9.

The airport said in a statement that the aircraft landed safely, taxied to its gate and that passengers deplaned normally, and that its crew inspected the runway and taxiway immediately after the landing as standard procedure6. Bird remains recovered after strikes are often sent to the Smithsonian Institution's laboratory in Washington, where the species is identified, according to the FAA6.

After the landing

Passengers were rebooked on a replacement flight that left Myrtle Beach at 4:05 p.m. and landed in Charlotte at 4:47 p.m., WBTV reported, citing its sister station WMBF10. AeroInside reported that the replacement aircraft, an Airbus A319, reached Charlotte with a delay of 7.5 hours, and that N825NN was still on the ground in Myrtle Beach about 28 hours after landing, as of 11 August5. The same aircraft appears in adsb.lol data flying American Airlines services again on 13 October11. We found no public statement from the airline on what its inspection found.

What this means for pilots

The flight fits the statistics in several ways. The FAA counts about 344,000 reported wildlife strikes with civil aircraft in the United States between 1990 and 2025, including about 24,500 strikes at 870 U.S. airports in 202512. About 54 percent of bird strikes occur from July to October, when young birds have recently fledged and fall migration takes place12. For fixed-wing civil aircraft, 36 percent of strikes happen during the take-off run and climb and about 61 percent during descent, approach and landing; overall, about 70 percent occur between 0 and 500 feet above ground level12. Wings and engines are the components most often damaged12. SKYbrary notes that strikes are most likely during take-off, initial climb, approach and landing because more birds fly at low levels, and that jet engines are vulnerable to a loss of thrust when birds are ingested4.

"Bird strikes can be extremely serious," Capt. Laura Einsetler, an airline pilot, told CBS News. "We would not continue flying the jet if we knew that there was any type of significant impact to the engine and its capabilities at that point"3. Reporting matters too. Most bird strikes are reported by pilots and airport personnel, according to the FAA12, and SKYbrary describes recording strikes at the local level as a critical part of building up larger databases and sharing the information4. At Myrtle Beach itself, a 2021 WBTW report based on FAA data counted 37 reported wildlife strikes at the airport in 2020 and 43 the year before, none of them damaging in 202013.

What is not yet known

The FAA has not published the outcome of its investigation, the species involved has not been made public as far as we could find, and we found no statement from American Airlines on what damage, if any, its maintenance team found on the engine.

Frequently asked questions

Was anyone hurt on American Airlines flight 1760?

No. ABC News and Fox News reported that there were no injuries12.

Was the engine on fire?

Passengers and video showed flames coming from the left engine3, but American Airlines said there was no indication of a fire in the engine2, and the airline told ABC News that no fire or leaks were found after landing1.

When do most bird strikes happen?

According to the FAA, about 54 percent of bird strikes occur from July to October, and about 70 percent happen between 0 and 500 feet above ground level12.