Stubborn vulture plucked from Ryanair wing before Greece flight

Last Sunday, a vulture on Crete's Iraklio airport refused to leave a Ryanair wing, forcing fire crews to retrieve it before takeoff, according to local reports. The Patris daily published photos of the stubborn scavenger inside a firefighter's protective gear, showing the bird perched on the plane's tail wing. The bird was later placed in a wooden box and sent to the island's natural history museum for preservation.

Birds frequently become lodged in aircraft engines, occasionally leading to severe incidents. Earlier this week, the US National Transportation Safety Board revealed that remains of birds had been discovered in the engine of a Ryanair plane during a flight from Greece to Germany on July 10. The incident caused a blade to break off, shattering a cabin window and partially ejecting a passenger.

The US safety board reported that four suspected bird strikes to the plane's engines were reported by crew members in the previous year, but no damage was found in subsequent maintenance checks.