Terrifying moment bird smashes into plane cockpit window mid-flight

A plane pilot was left terrified when a bird smashed into the cockpit windscreen at thousands feet high mid-flight.

Video taken by the Boeing 737 pilot shows the clear sky and green field before a bird flies closer.

It appears that the bird is heading straight towards the twin jet airliner despite the pilot adjusts the plane's course with a little tilt.

The impact has come to the pilot's shock that he dropped his mobile phone and cursed in Russian, saying 'oh damn!'.

The cockpit window was left splattered with the bird's remains.

Video posted on a YouTube channel, 'WBR Avia', claimed the plane was a Boeing 737.

Commentators wrote: "Shouldn't the pilots receive notification when an object is approaching directly at the aircraft?"

Bird strikes tend to occur when planes are flying low – at or below 10,000 feet – which is usually during take-offs or landing.

The majority of bird strikes take place at around 3,000 feet although they have been known to occur at the typical cruising altitude of 35,000 feet.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority, the average number of bird strikes in the past year was around 1,600.

Those statistics show that the Gull, Swallows and pigeons were the most common bird species involved in bird strikes.