Cat in cockpit causes emergency landing
BRUSSELS (AP) — A Belgian airliner made an emergency landing after an agitated passenger — a cat — got into the cockpit and attacked the co-pilot, the airline said Tuesday.
The SN Brussels flight from the Belgian capital to Vienna, Austria, had been in the air about 20 minutes Monday when "it was noticed" that a passenger's pet had escaped from its cage, "although it is not yet clear how," according to an airline statement.
"Once free, the animal proceeded to wander around the cabin," slipping into the cockpit when meals were being delivered to the two-man flight crew, it said.
"At this stage the animal became agitated and nervous," it said. An airline spokeswoman added that the cat scratched the copilot's arm.
The pilot decided to return to Brussels as a precaution, and the 58 passengers departed once more two hours later on another flight.
The cat had been checked in Oslo, Norway, in an internationally approved "flight transport bag," but the airline said it may end up changing its procedures for pets in the cabin once it concludes its investigation.
"At no time throughout the incident was the passengers' security affected in any way," it said
Toss the cat into the sharp objects bin at the airport, I say!
Toss the cat into the sharp objects bin at the airport, I say!
More like throw the wimpy/paranoid pilots into the sharp objects bin.
I can see a South Park episode now. Mr. Garrison and his activist gay friends pulling trained attack cats out of their sex slaves' rectums and taking over an airplane. Then Lemiwinks comes and saves the day.
Fly back? Why didn't someone just pick up the cat (maybe it's OWNER??) and place it back into it's cage?
"OMG, it's a rabid house cat and it's gonna kill us all! It attacked me, I'm bleeding to death! I might die! Return to the airport before it kills me!"
And what if the cat wandered into the cockpit and attacked the pilot as he was on final approach? I don't think the rest of the passengers would appreciate becoming a giant stain on the ground because a cat jumped into the pilot's face at the exact wrong time.
While I personally would have just cleared the cockpit and had the stewards and stewardesses go through the plane and check for any additional pets roaming free (not to mention give a good chastizing to the person who let their cat out), pilots are taught to return to the airport if there's any trouble (especially so early into the flight).
I was thinking the same as SX. I mean seriously if they cannot treat a scratch on an Airplane, what does that say?
It's not like they had a huge area to trap the cat it for goodness sake it was a cockpit! I can understand not letting the owner into the cabin for safety reasons but, if you cant catch the cat then you cant fly a plane.
And what if the cat wandered into the cockpit and attacked the pilot as he was on final approach? I don't think the rest of the passengers would appreciate becoming a giant stain on the ground because a cat jumped into the pilot's face at the exact wrong time.
While I personally would have just cleared the cockpit and had the stewards and stewardesses go through the plane and check for any additional pets roaming free (not to mention give a good chastizing to the person who let their cat out), pilots are taught to return to the airport if there's any trouble (especially so early into the flight).
Well, that is what the Co-Pilot is for...
Not disagreeing with you Ruccus, the point is valid. He could as easily have a heart attack on final approach as well. However, in today's climate of paranoia, everyone overreacts to everything.
There is a major difference between being aware and wary and freaking out at one's own shadow.
And what if the cat wandered into the cockpit and attacked the pilot as he was on final approach? I don't think the rest of the passengers would appreciate becoming a giant stain on the ground because a cat jumped into the pilot's face at the exact wrong time.
It's a fricking house cat, not a rabid wolf...
Besides, most landing approaches are done by the computer anyhow, and there's still two of them in the cockpit.
What my point was is that the reason air travel is so safe is because pilots are pretty much taught to be wusses - any problem shortly after takeoff? Turn back. Any problem in mid fight? Find an airport nearby and set it down.
What if the cat got out again and attacked a passenger, then the passenger sued the airline? How would it look if the co-pilot has to say "Well yes judge, the cat attacked me earlier in the flight but we didn't think it'd attack a passenger."
This has got to be one of the stupidest debates on the Safehouse yet. It's a stupid cat, I own one (well as much as one can "own" a cat I guess). She can be a real menice when you are trying to clip her nails, yeah. The flight crew acted almost entirely incompetently. You know how you deal with a cat that is misbehaving? You grab it by the scruff of the neck, and you face the cat away from you. It's really that easy. I happen to be from an airline family, and do you know what the pilot and co-pilot do? They do nothing, they sit up there and read and play GBA. So the co-pilot grabs the cat (as said above), the pilot makes an announcement "This is your captain speaking, we had an attempted takeover by a hostile, terrorist attack-tabby, but luckily the co-pilot succeeded in subduing the assailant with only a minor scratch. Would the owner of the cat that got lose please come and collect him/her." Everyone gets a good chuckle, the cat is turned over to the fight-attendant crew, and the problem is solved. Instead, they incured many thousands of dollars in expenses, and inconvenienced a whole planeload of people who's connections were then missed, and the next flight out with that aircraft/crew was delayed.
So the co-pilot grabs the cat (as said above), the pilot makes an announcement "This is your captain speaking, we had an attempted takeover by a hostile, terrorist attack-tabby, but luckily the co-pilot succeeded in subduing the assailant with only a minor scratch. Would the owner of the cat that got lose please come and collect him/her." Everyone gets a good chuckle, the cat is turned over to the fight-attendant crew, and the problem is solved.
Oh, I'm willing to bet that there'll be some anal retentive moron who'll get offended by that 'joke' and try to sue because they were briefly distressed and panicked! OH MY!
Notice how the cat was cleverly trained to attack flight crew first, to assist in capturing the plane. Clearly this was just a test run next time, the cats claws will be coated with a contact poison, and there will be multiple cats on the flight!
Seriously though, bet the airline comes up with some new pet cage security lock device that they force all passengers to use for the duration of the flight =P
"Please keep your seat backs in the upright and locked position, no smoking, wear your seatbelt, and switch your pet cages into UltraSecure mode! Thank you, have a nice flight"
"if water was vodka and i was a duck i'd swim to the bottom and never come up, but water ain't vodka and im not a duck so pass me the bottle and shut the F*@# up." -jenn
next time, the cats claws will be coated with a contact poison, and there will be multiple cats on the flight!
