PHOTO: Passengers disembarked after HOLE noticed in American Airlines Boeing 777 wing

There are numerous ways an airplane can be impacted by bird strikes and airlines won’t always notice the damage straight away.

Earlier this week, for example, American Airlines was forced to delay a Frankfurt-bound flight at the last minute after a hole was noticed in the right hand wing of a Boeing 777-200.

The incident was reported by The Aviation Herald and I’ve included a passenger's photo of the damaged aircraft on this page – check out the leading edge of the right hand wing. The bird strike occurred on a previous flight.
 
Passengers had already boarded the airplane when the hole was noticed, but luckily the damage was spotted before the flight departed from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in the United States.

American Airlines was fast to react, arranging a replacement Boeing 777, with passengers delayed by 2 hours and 45 minutes in total. The damaged plane, meanwhile, was grounded for around 30 hours while it was fixed.

Source: The Aviation Writer