SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Canadian North charter flight had an unexpectedly short trip Tuesday morning after the Boeing 737 reportedly collided with two birds and had to undergo an emergency landing, minutes after taking off from the Yellowknife airport.

"The whole plane shuddered twice," said passenger Mark Pirogowicz, who was heading south on the charter flight after working a shift at Ekati diamond mine.

"It was a real bad shake. A short, violent vibration ... It shocked all of us. Even the people who were sleeping were awake saying what, what was that."

Pirogowicz, who was sitting in the back left section of the aircraft, immediately looked out the window.

"You could see feathers coming out of the back of the engine," he said. "There was a smell like burnt chicken."

He said the flight crews informed passengers they'd hit two birds.

Passenger Shawn Muir was also sitting by a window and said he could see the plane's wing moving.

"We just heard the engine thumping like it was backfiring and shaking around and figured they might have hit a bird. The wing was jumping around and the motor was jumping. I didn't know what was going on," he said.

"They could see smoke coming out of the engine, which was also alarming," said passenger Kieth Nye, who said he was relieved to make it back to the ground.

"By the time we get to tell the wives this, it'll be 'the flames were ten feet high and people were screaming all around us,'" he joked.

The plane circled for around ten minutes above the airport before landing.

Flight 9411 was a chartered flight en route to Edmonton from Yellowknife. It originated at the Ekati Mine and many of the approximately 80 passengers were mine workers on their way home for vacation.

After disembarking, the airline told passengers to proceed through security again because they would be departing at 1 p.m. People lined up but minutes later, the airport's loudspeaker announced passengers would have to wait longer. The flight hadn't taken off by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Canadian North could not be reached for comment.

Steve Loutitt, regional airport manager, said the airport alerted its emergency response team when officials heard an aircraft was having a mechanical issue shortly before noon.

"Along with our airport fire department, we went into a standby preparation mode for the incident," he said. "We implemented our emergency response plan and called our partners."

The RCMP and the city fire department also responded, and the airport put the Stanton Hospital on standby. He said the aircraft landed safely within ten minutes of declaring the emergency.

"We made sure no one was dealing with any stress issues," said Loutitt.

He said he couldn't comment on the cause of the emergency.

Loutitt said the Canadian North flight had priority when landing but the incident didn't disrupt airport traffic.

"It was a quiet time of day for the airport," he said.

"We have active bird control program that goes year-round but there are still many birds in the area."

Loutitt said there are scheduled patrols and unscheduled crews that get rid of birds, using both passive methods to scare them away and destroying them as a last resort.

"Traditionally this time of year isn't a very active period for birds around the airport ... We're always on the lookout and diligent for birds and wildlife through all phases of the year."