This is what happens when a bird hits a plane - you won't believe the size of the hole

A single bird left a huge gash in this Airbus A319-100 last week. Photo / Twitter

Terrifying photos have emerged of the damage a single bird can inflict on a passenger jet.

The 112-seat Airbus A319-100, operated by Air Namibia, was landing at Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia last week when the bird struck its fuselage.

Photos posted to Twitter show the bird left a big gash in the side of the plane.

Air Namibia spokesman Paul Nakawa told The Namibian that bird strikes were common during landing and taking off because that was when birds and planes shared the same airspace.

"Regarding this recent incident, a big bird hit one of our four A319-100 aircraft that services our regional routes just when it was about to land. It left one of the underbody panels of the aircraft damaged," Mr Nakawa told the newspaper.

This afternoon we had a bird strike upon landing. We landed peacefully & we are all fine!
@Prbeverlyangel#GoodNews pic.twitter.com/sTGx3WYc0d

— Ellen Angel (@pastor_ellen) January 14, 2016

"Bird strikes are also beyond human power but our pilots do what they can as per the techniques obtained from their thorough training to ensure passengers on board are safe when this happens."

The plane landed safely without further incident, and the airline apologised to relieved passengers.

The incident comes after equally dramatic photos emerged last May of the damage a bird inflicted to a plane's nose cone.

The single bird all but collapsed the nose of the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800, which was carrying 125 passengers at the time.

#BirdStrike impressionnant sur un B737 @TurkishAirlines #TK2004 #AvGeek pic.twitter.com/kIybRKFy2j

— Flight-Report (@flight_report) May 5, 2015