A third bird strike in under 48 hours has grounded another United Nigeria Airlines aircraft, bringing the carrier's total such incidents in 2026 to seven. The latest strike hit an Embraer 190 shortly after take-off from Benin Airport (a city in southern Nigeria) on Thursday afternoon, damaging the nose landing gear door and forcing the flight to Abuja to be cancelled. The rapid clustering of incidents has prompted the airline to call on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to strengthen wildlife hazard management at airports, with an aviation analyst warning that the pattern points to possible gaps in bird control around airfields.