Flock of birds nearly cause Spanish F-18 to crash on crowded beach during airshow

The Spanish Air Force said the EF-18 Hornet fighter "performed an evasive manoeuvre when it detected a flock of birds in its path".

A flock of birds nearly caused a Spanish Air Force EF-18 Hornet fighter jet to crash on a crowded beach during a major airshow.During the Gijón Air Festival — which was held over the weekend in Asturias in northern Spain — the jet was performing a low-altitude display when it suddenly pulled off an evasive manoeuvre. Videos of the incident show the jet turning upside down, trailing black smoke and hurtling towards the sea before swooping away at the last minute. People on San Lorenzo Beach were seen filming the near miss on their phones, with some shouting and screaming in shock as the plane narrowly avoided crashing. In a post on X on Monday, the Spanish Air Force said the jet "performed an evasive manoeuvre when it detected a flock of birds in its path"."This action is part of standard protocol to protect both the pilot and the safety of the public. Our pilots are trained to react in milliseconds to any unforeseen event," it said.More than 300,000 people attended the Gijón Air Festival, making it the largest in annual event's history, according to local media. There were displays by the Spanish Air and Space Force, Search and Rescue, Navy and National Police, among other performances.Just last month, a similar incident occurred at the Aire25 airshow in Murcia in southeastern Spain. A Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon was performing a display when a seagull collided with the jet's canopy. The collision broke the canopy and punctured the windshield, forcing the pilot to end the routine and land immediately, aviation media reported.According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), at least 270,000 reports of wildlife strikes to aircraft were recorded globally between 2016 and 2021.