A319
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Environment - Non Weather Related
We were taking off on Runway XX when during the liftoff we experienced a bird strike. Loud noise and aircraft vibration followed. Due to the unknown location of the bird strike we elected to leave the landing gear down. After about 5 minutes we realized that the left engine N1 vibration gauge was indicating excessive vibration. At that time we realized that the bird was ingested by the left engine and that the engine was damaged due to the abnormal indication. Since all other engine indications on the respective engine were normal we opted not to shut down the engine. We returned back to the departure airport. After about 25 minutes on the air we made an uneventful landing.
During rotation I noticed a bird flying low over the runway ahead of us. The bird struck the aircraft; however the exact point of collision was unclear to us at that moment. The sighting and subsequent impact to our aircraft occurred instantaneously. Since the extent of the damage was unknown we decided to leave our landing gear extended. We maintained runway heading and began assessing aircraft condition. A left engine vibration was detected but no further indications were observed. We advised Dispatch of our situation. After applying our procedures and determining that [our departure airport] would be the ideal divert; we were cleared for the approach. We landed safely with no further incident.
A319 flight crew reported returning to departure airport after ingesting a bird into the left engine that resulted in high engine vibration.