[The Owl]

I was on a plane that sucked a big bird through an engine on takeoff. People sitting near the engine heard a bang and saw a flash of flame and the plane filled with a burning smell that was part electrical, part poultry. People who saw it were crying and one of the flight attendants freaked out because the engine didn't "sound right" to her. The whole thing went on for an hour, and at one point the captain actually came out of the cockpit and looked at and listened to the engine in question from one of the passenger seats. Finally he announced that tests had indicated that the engine was "within tolerances" and that we would proceed.