NEW YORK: A cargo plane en-route Belgium from New York was forced to return to the point of flying (New York City) after a horse escaped from its enclosure on board.
The horse broke free on the Boeing 747 cargo plane within 30 minutes of the plane’s takeoff, according to the audio clips from air traffic control that were reconstructed on YouTube, media reported.
Less than an hour into the November 9 Air Atlanta Icelandic flight on a Boeing 747-400, a pilot told air traffic controllers about the wayward horse.
“We have a live animal, horse onboard the plane, and the horse managed to escape the stall,” the pilot tells the air traffic controller. “We don’t have a problem as of flying-wise, but we need to return … back to New York. We cannot get the horse back secured.”
The pilot also requested the air traffic controller for an examination for the horse upon the plane’s return to the John F Kennedy airport in Queens, but he did not elaborate on possible injuries sustained by the horse.
The plane also had to dump 20 tonnes of fuel into the Atlantic Ocean “approximately 10 miles west of Martha’s Vineyard”, due to the plane’s weight. Once the plane landed, the pilot requested assistance with the horse on the plane’s ramp. “We have a horse … in difficulty,” the pilot said.
The plane’s operator, Air Atlanta Icelandic, did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. The incident is not the first time an animal has escaped its cargo stall while onboard a plane.
In August, a bear escaped from its crate on a Iraqi Airways flight that was departing from Dubai to Baghdad. Video footage of the bear showed the animal walking around the plane’s cargo compartment.
In the video, aircraft staff are seen petting the bear in an attempt to keep it calm. The bear was later sedated and removed from the aircraft, but the passengers complained online that the trouble with the bear caused major travel delays.
