DUBLIN, September 11, 2008 (AFP) - A Ryanair flight was forced to return to Dublin airport on Thursday after the plane's tail hit the runway as it took off for London, an airport authority spokeswoman said.

The plane landed safely and none of the crew or 148 passengers were injured.

'It (the plane) took off and it incurred a tail strike and it came back and ... landed safely subsequently,' the spokeswoman said.

She said that an air accident investigation unit from Ireland's transport ministry probing the incident.

A passenger on the flight told RTE state radio there had been a loud bang when the aircraft took off which he described as being similar to the noise of a plane's landing gear hitting a runway when it is landing.

He said people were scared, adding: 'It was not a nice experience.'

Ryanair was not immediately available for comment.

The low-cost airline's planes have been involved in two other incidents recently.

Passengers on a flight from Bristol in England to Barcelona on August 25 said they feared they 'were going to die' when the plane plunged 8,000 metres (26,400 feet) after a sudden loss of cabin pressure over France.

Four days later, a Ryanair jet made an emergency landing in Rome after an indicator light signalled a problem with the aircraft's landing gear.