Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Airport emergency after birds hit plane during war games

Operation Joint Warrior at RAF Lossiemouth
Operation Joint Warrior at RAF Lossiemouth

A full-scale emergency was declared at Stornoway Airport after a military plane suffered a bird strike.

Emergency and rescue services rushed to the airfield just after 2pm on Saturday when the pilot radioed in the alert.

Airport fire crews took up positions at the runway immediately. while reinforcements were summoned from Stornoway.

Ambulance, police and coastguard teams all attended and the Stornoway lifeboat covered the sea area off Holm just beyond the airport’s runway.

Many international military planes have been staging mock air battles off the Western Isles and west coast of Scotland during the biennial Joint Warrior exercises.

Warplanes including Typhoons, Hawk T1s, and long range Poseidons are taking part in the Nato war games, which run until April 24.

The aircraft landed safely, a short time after the emergency was declared, without injury to its three crew.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “There was a full-scale emergency at Stornoway airport. The aircraft landed safely.”

Stornoway RNLI added: “A military aircraft with three persons on board had suffered a bird strike. Fortunately, the aircraft was able to land safely seven minutes after the lifeboat launched.”

Meanwhile, a military aircraft was diverted from the Joint Warrior exercises to help in the land-and-sea search for the missing skipper of the MFV Louisa, which sank off the Western Isles on April 9.

The crew of the naval helicopter heard how ordinary islanders were scouring the rocky shorelines of bays and inlets around the southern tip of the Outer Hebrides.

More than 3,400 Nato troops are involved in the two-week land, sea and air war games exercises.

A total of 22 ships, four submarines and more than 40 aircraft from a dozen Nato nations and three partner countries are taking part.

There has been increased activity at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, the Cape Wrath and Benbecula firing ranges and Faslane naval base on the Clyde during the event.

About 1,500 personnel from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force are participating, alongside those from across Europe and as far afield as New Zealand and the United States.