Irish eyes maybe smiling but they failed to notice torn off wing!

Now you‘d think that you’d notice nearly six feet of missing wing, especially when the missing part also contained one of the aircraft’s fuel tanks. But an Irish commercial pilot flew a Cessna P210N five-seater for two hours before he realised that a large chunk of the starboard wing had been torn off.

The pilot, who worked for Shannon-based charter company Pacific Network Air, told investigators that he thought the 450hp turbine powered aircraft had been “struck by a little bird” on takeoff.

The aircraft was on a 960-mile flight to Lisbon with three flight engineers, on their way to repair a grounded Boeing 747. The aircraft had to make an emergency landing at Jersey Airport just two hours into the flight - when the pilot noticed that the fuel gauge for the missing tank showed empty. The tank was found on the ground back in Ireland.

A spokesman for Jersey Airport was reported as saying: “We were amazed it had managed to fly as long as it had. It was in a real state when it came in. “The pilot was the most shocked of us all as he had not realised the extent of the damage while he was flying. They were very lucky.”

The Irish Air Accident Investigations Unit is looking into the incident. A spokesman said: “After the pilot heard a bang he thought he had been hit by a bird, but he decided to proceed. Usually, if an aircraft is hit by anything, a pilot will decide to land immediately.” The pilot has not been named.

Ironically, the aircraft is for sale on Pacific Network Air’s website. The ad says: “The ultimate in light aircraft performance, reliability and range. Flown over 1000 hours throughout Europe in past 3 years with 100% dispatch reliability. Amazing short field performance.”