Qatari C-17 Bound for Al Udeid Turns Back to Stansted After Suspected Bird Strike

Photo by Martin Foskett / Knelstrom Media

​By Martin Foskett | Newswire | Knelstrom Media

​STANSTED, ENGLAND — 31 AUGUST 2025 A Qatari Air Force C-17 Globemaster III returned to Stansted Airport on Sunday after a suspected bird strike during its climb, abandoning a planned flight to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and circling over Essex before landing back without incident.

The aircraft, operating as flight LHOB246, had been scheduled to depart from Stansted at 11:00 with an arrival logged for 20:44 at Al Udeid, Qatar's principal military installation, southwest of Doha, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport. Departure boards showed the flight listed alongside regular budget services to Alicante and Chisinau.

After taking off at 11:15 this morning, the C-17 climbed through 1,000ft when an issue was reported with its No. 1 engine, believed to have involved bird ingestion.

Flightradar24 tracking shows the aircraft looping northeast over Saffron Walden, Cambridge and Royston before returning to Essex in a controlled descent lasting little more than twenty minutes.

An eyewitness photograph taken at 12:35 captured the Globemaster silhouetted against overcast skies above the treeline. A bird is visible in the frame, though not the one involved, a coincidence that underlined the irony of the day's disruption.

Upon landing, the aircraft was then directed to a remote stand, where engineers in high-visibility clothing and fatigues began inspecting the affected engine. No injuries were reported, and Stansted's civilian schedule continued unaffected.

Bird strikes are a familiar hazard at grass-fringed airports. Though the C-17 is designed to operate on three engines if required, long-haul missions are rarely risked under uncertain conditions. Analysts described the return as a routine precaution rather than evidence of significant damage.

By late afternoon, the transport remained parked on the apron, its Qatar Emiri Air Force insignia visible beneath the cloud. The aircraft's planned eight-hour flight to Doha was replaced instead by a brief loop over Essex fields, cut short at 1,000ft by an adversary that has not yet been officially confirmed.

We contacted both the Qatar Emiri Air Force and Stansted Airport for comment, but had not received a response from either at the time of writing.

​UPDATE — 31 AUGUST 2025
Spotters' groups reported the C-17 may have suffered a double bird strike, first on Engine No. 2, then on Engine No. 1 at around 1,000 ft.