Only the tail of the US Airways plane sticks out of the frigid Hudson on Saturday, two days after its “miraculous” landing in the New York river with all 155 on board safe. The plane has been towed to the western side of Manhattan for inspection. (AP)

Calcutta/Guwahati, Jan. 17: After the Hudson Miracle, the Hooghly Mayday — but it turned out premature.

A JetLite pilot cried out “Mayday” — the international distress call — minutes after take-off from Calcutta this morning when air traffic control told him his left engine was giving out sparks and fumes.

Moments ago, the Guwahati-bound plane, with 54 on board, had taken a bird hit — enough to evoke thoughts of Thursday’s US airliner whose brush with a flock of geese over New York shut down both engines before the pilot glided it down on the icy Hudson river, with all its 155 people safe.

Over the Hooghly, it wasn’t all that bad, though. The Boeing 737-800’s right engine was functioning perfectly. “The pilot switched off the left engine and checked all cockpit equipment. Once he realised everything was fine, he withdrew the Mayday call,” an airport official said.

An aircraft can fly on a single engine, a senior pilot said, but no one was taking any chances. Flight S2-361 turned round to land in Calcutta at 6.49am, 20 minutes after takeoff.

“The pilot sought a priority landing (before other aircraft) but we provided full emergency landing, with ambulances and fire engines ready,” the official said.

All 46 passengers and eight crew members were evacuated safely and most passengers were later put on a Jet Airways flight except 10-15 who refused to fly today.

“I was looking out of the window. There was a huge sound and I saw fire break out on the plane’s left side. For a moment, I thought ‘This is it’,” passenger DJ Poison (his professional name), 32, said in Guwahati.

“The plane was wobbling, its nose dipping and rising. After the third dip, things stabilised. The pilot was simply great; he didn’t let anyone panic.”

“We had a miraculous escape thanks to the pilot,” said another passenger, Manish.

Officials said the pilot’s first reaction may have been involuntary — he had cried out “Mayday” instead of radio-signalling it.

“It could have been serious but the pilot did well to switch off the damaged engine at once,” a pilot said.

Calcutta witnessed three bird hits last year despite its 21 bird chasers and two sharpshooters.

Officials, who blame the nearby markets, said today’s hit occurred 400 feet above the ground, by when the plane would have been some distance from the airport.

From the birds’ perspective, “modern jet aircraft are a lot quieter than the old jet and piston-powered aircraft”, biologist Richard A. Dolbeer told The New York Times. “It’s not perceived as a threat until it’s too late.”

As deterrents, pulsating lights and reflective coatings need more research, he said, as do bird-detection radars for airports.