Geese-strike grounds flight to America

About 260 passengers had their travel plans delayed last night when their flight to San Francisco was forced back after striking geese shortly after takeoff.

Air New Zealand spokesman David Jamieson said the Boeing 777 had just taken off from Auckland Airport when the plane hit the geese.

The birdstrike damaged the plane's radome, or weather radar in the aircraft's nose, and forced the pilot to return to the airport.

Bird strike incidents were relatively rare, Mr Jamieson said.

"Usually the birds move out of the way pretty quickly when they see big jets like these coming their way."

Mr Jamieson said passengers waited in transit as engineers worked on the damaged gear.

He said if the weather radar could not be fixed another plane would be prepared for departure. Passengers were still waiting just after midnight.