Bird strike or aircraft collision? Name causes confusion

A bird strike in Thailand created an unusual misunderstanding Wednesday, spurred by the unusual name of a Thai discount airline.

The bird strike occurred on a Thai AirAsia flight. But the Thai word for bird is "nok," and report of the bird strike sparked "social media confusion over whether the aircraft had collided with a plane from budget carrier Nok Air," writes The Associated Press.

That prompted Nok Air to take to Twitter to clarify that none of its planes were involved.

"We would like to clarify that Nok Air did not clip another aircraft today," Nok Air said in a tweet, adding that another airline's aircraft had hit an actual bird.

As for the Thai AirAsia flight that hit the bird, the Airbus 320-200 operating the flight landed safely in the southern Thai city of Nakhon Si Thammarat, the airline tells AP in a statement. The flight originated in Bangkok and was carrying 151 passengers. The bird impact left a "scratch" on the edge of the aircraft's left wing, Thai AirAsia said in its statement.

Banyat Hansakul, Thai AirAsia's chief engineer, "described the damage as a small hole in the wing," AP writes. The news agency says engineers repaired the wing and the Airbus jet returned to service later in the day.