The crushed nose of the plane carrying Kiwi basketball star Steven Adams and his Oklahoma City Thunder teammates was likely caused by a bird hit during landing, says Delta Air Lines.
Several of the NBA players were left in disbelief after seeing the damage to the Delta Boeing 757-200 plane.
A number of players shared their shock to social media, including Patrick Patterson who made light of the damage sharing a post on Instagram: "When you accidentally hit Superman while flying".
Kiwi Steven Adams shared an image saying, "We had a rough flight to say the least".
He asked NASA, TV scientist Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson what could have happened, to no answer, until Delta revealed the likely cause.
Delta Airlines later confirmed the incident, saying no passengers or staff were injured,.
"Delta flight 8935, operating from Minneapolis to Chicago-Midway as a charter flight for the Oklahoma City Thunder, likely encountered a bird while on descent into Chicago," said a spokesman for the airline.
"The aircraft, a Boeing 757-200, landed safely without incident; customers have since deplaned and maintenance teams are evaluating. Safety is Delta’s top priority."
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