Aircraft

Images of the removal of the Ryanair Boeing 737-800 crippled by a bird-strike at Rome Ciampino reveal the severity of the damage, which extends to the rear fuselage.

The scale of the recovery effort meant the airport remained closed for about 36 hours after the 10 November accident

Images of the 737 being lifted onto a low-loader transport show that the underside of the rear fuselage sustained abrasion damage consistent with contact with the runway.

There also appears to be upper-surface wing damage above the left-hand main landing-gear, which buckled during the landing.

Italian investigators say that Ryanair flight FR4102 from Frankfurt Hahn struck a large flock of birds during its approach, although there were only minor injuries among the 172 passengers and crew on board.

• More images of the Ryanair birdstrike accident in our AirSpace gallery
• David Learmount discusses the accident in his blog