The United States Air Force Two plane carrying Vice President Joe Biden was struck by birds in California on Thursday, but it landed without problem the vice president, passengers and crew were all safe.

The incident occurred on Thursday night as Air Force Two was landing in Santa Barbara, California. "The vice president left Santa Barbara as scheduled, aboard an alternate U.S. Air Force aircraft. Lieutenant Gregg Johnson of the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, who is responsible for transporting the president, vice president and other senior U.S. officials, said the crew and passengers of Air Force Two had been "safe at all times."

According to Lieutenant Johnson there was no emergency - no emergency landing declared, adding it was not possible at this stage to characterize the level of damage, if any, that the modified Boeing 757 aircraft sustained in the bird strike.

Another bird strike forced a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Los Angeles to make an emergency return to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Somewhere in January 2009, a US Airways flight made a successful emergency landing in the Hudson River after it struck a flock of geese shortly after take-off from New York's La Guardia airport, there again all 155 passengers and crew survived.

"Such Air safety incidents involving the U.S. president or vice president are not rampant encounter, but however not unprecedented. Air Force One aborted a landing due to bad weather while carrying President Barack Obama to an event in Connecticut last May. One month before, an aircraft carrying first lady Michelle Obama was ordered to abandon its landing approach to Andrews Air Force Base in order to avoid another plane," Lieutenant Gregg Johnson said.

FRANCIS TAWIAH (Duisburg - Germany)