Narrative:

First flight of the day; engines warmed up; airbus 321; first officer flying pilot. APU on for engine bleeds off performance and toga; standard callouts and began rotation with the rotate callout. Nose was off the ground when there was a loud 'bang' and a hard yaw and dip to the right. First officer continued rotations and started the climbout. Short discussion with tower who advised fire came out of engine; fire out just smoke now. First officer thought perhaps nose wheel tire blew out and ingested into right engine. Captain thought he saw birds as first officer rotated. Captain assumed flying pilot duties. First officer worked QRH checklists as follows: severe engine vibration; overweight landing; landing distance with flaps 3 (8;600 ft needed) and full (7;800 ft needed); obstacle clearance if go around. The right engine had severe engine vibrations registering 9 - 10+ on the gages. Bringing the right thrust lever to idle shows normal operations; but any thrust added reinstated severe vibrations. Normal checklists were performed. Landing with a 20 mile final on the longest runway was made by captain. We held off on full flaps until safe landing was assured as our weight was 196;000 in a terrain infested area. [It was a] very smooth touch down and autobrakes 2 with both reversers with normal outcome. Shut down #2 on taxi in. Fire department met the aircraft on runway and followed to gate. Brakes were very hot but cooled quickly with brake fans on. Completed over weight landing entry; bird strike form; as soon as possible; photographs by first officer provided to chief. 14 fan blades on N1 damaged heavily. Suggestions: the QRH does not have a 'bird strike' checklist. It would be better to have it in the index; with reference to the pages that may apply and to be considered. I talked to an instructor pilot who recently hit birds on climbout; and his crew also struggled with finding checklist ideas from the QRH. QRH should refer to engine damage and vibration; overweight landing; landing data configuration 3; and full use of auto brakes on 2 vs. 1; go around options; APU use; and radar use.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A321 struck two seagulls during takeoff rotation which caused severe vibration with flames and smoke reported by Tower. The crew returned to land where severe fan blade damage was found.

Narrative: First flight of the day; engines warmed up; Airbus 321; First Officer flying pilot. APU on for Engine Bleeds OFF performance and TOGA; standard callouts and began rotation with the rotate callout. Nose was off the ground when there was a loud 'bang' and a hard yaw and dip to the right. First Officer continued rotations and started the climbout. Short discussion with Tower who advised fire came out of engine; fire out just smoke now. First Officer thought perhaps nose wheel tire blew out and ingested into right engine. Captain thought he saw birds as First Officer rotated. Captain assumed flying pilot duties. First Officer worked QRH Checklists as follows: SEVERE ENGINE VIBRATION; OVERWEIGHT LANDING; landing distance with flaps 3 (8;600 FT needed) and full (7;800 FT needed); obstacle clearance if go around. The right engine had severe engine vibrations registering 9 - 10+ on the gages. Bringing the right thrust lever to idle shows normal operations; but any thrust added reinstated severe vibrations. Normal checklists were performed. Landing with a 20 mile final on the longest runway was made by Captain. We held off on full flaps until safe landing was assured as our weight was 196;000 in a terrain infested area. [It was a] very smooth touch down and autobrakes 2 with both reversers with normal outcome. Shut down #2 on taxi in. Fire Department met the aircraft on runway and followed to gate. Brakes were very hot but cooled quickly with brake fans on. Completed over weight landing entry; bird strike form; ASAP; photographs by First Officer provided to Chief. 14 fan blades on N1 damaged heavily. Suggestions: The QRH does not have a 'bird strike' checklist. It would be better to have it in the index; with reference to the pages that may apply and to be considered. I talked to an Instructor Pilot who recently hit birds on climbout; and his crew also struggled with finding checklist ideas from the QRH. QRH should refer to engine damage and vibration; overweight landing; landing data configuration 3; and full use of auto brakes on 2 vs. 1; go around options; APU use; and radar use.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.