Last week, #RatOnDreamliner was trending on Twitter. It turns out that that a rodent was spotted in the cockpit of an Air India Dreamliner flying from London to Delhi on May 25. Communications between the pilots and the control room accessed by Times Now revealed that the rat was about six inches long – without counting its tail. The plane was asked to continue its journey despite the extra passenger.
This is the third such incident reported on Air India in recent months. On Monday, rats were spotted on Flight AI 810 coming into Delhi from Ranchi. The aircraft was withdrawn and taken for fumigation. On August 4, news came out that "scores of rats" were discovered on an Air India flight after landing in Delhi. This has been disputed by an Air India spokesman who said that there was only one rat on the aircraft. As soon as all passengers disembarked, the plane was taken to a remote bay for fumigation.
Rats occasionally access planes by inserting themselves into large storage containers in which food trays are kept. But flying with rats abroad could have serious safety implications. If even one of the wires were damaged on-board, that could have catastrophic results, including a fire breaking out.
Air India isn't the only airline to face a rodent problem. Last September, 11 rats were found in a nest formed under a seat in business class upon landing of a plane in China. “The find, at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport in Fujian Province on September 30, is believed to be the largest number of rats ever discovered aboard a commercial flight,” said the DailyMail. The cabin was immediately closed and the airport launched a public health emergency plan the next day.
In 2011, rat faeces and urine was found on a Delta Airline aircraft. In February 2010, passengers were ordered off an Air Canada flight after a single rat was found on-board just before take-off.
As it turns out, some airlines have had even bigger problems with creatures onboard. In 2009, a Qantas flight was grounded in Australia after four python snakes escaped their cages, bringing to mind the 2006 spoof horror film, Snakes on a Plane.
The next year, a Filair aircraft crashed into a house in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing its British pilot and 19 others after a crocodile escaped from a sports bag, causing panic.
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This is the third such incident reported on Air India in recent months. On Monday, rats were spotted on Flight AI 810 coming into Delhi from Ranchi. The aircraft was withdrawn and taken for fumigation. On August 4, news came out that "scores of rats" were discovered on an Air India flight after landing in Delhi. This has been disputed by an Air India spokesman who said that there was only one rat on the aircraft. As soon as all passengers disembarked, the plane was taken to a remote bay for fumigation.
Rats occasionally access planes by inserting themselves into large storage containers in which food trays are kept. But flying with rats abroad could have serious safety implications. If even one of the wires were damaged on-board, that could have catastrophic results, including a fire breaking out.
Air India isn't the only airline to face a rodent problem. Last September, 11 rats were found in a nest formed under a seat in business class upon landing of a plane in China. “The find, at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport in Fujian Province on September 30, is believed to be the largest number of rats ever discovered aboard a commercial flight,” said the DailyMail. The cabin was immediately closed and the airport launched a public health emergency plan the next day.
In 2011, rat faeces and urine was found on a Delta Airline aircraft. In February 2010, passengers were ordered off an Air Canada flight after a single rat was found on-board just before take-off.
As it turns out, some airlines have had even bigger problems with creatures onboard. In 2009, a Qantas flight was grounded in Australia after four python snakes escaped their cages, bringing to mind the 2006 spoof horror film, Snakes on a Plane.
The next year, a Filair aircraft crashed into a house in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing its British pilot and 19 others after a crocodile escaped from a sports bag, causing panic.
