Horse on the Loose Forces Cargo Plane to Return to New York Mid-Flight
A Boeing 747 cargo plane flying from New York JFK to Liege, Belgium, faced an unusual hiccup as a horse managed to escape its stall shortly after takeoff on November 9. The incident, reported by ABC News and reconstructed in a video by YouTube channel "You Can See ATC," led the pilot to contact air traffic control, stating, "We have a live animal, a horse, on board the aeroplane, and the horse managed to escape its stall."
Despite continuing the flight not being an issue, the crew decided to return to New York as they were unable to secure the horse, dumping approximately 20 tonnes of fuel over the Atlantic to meet safe landing weight limits. FlightRadar24 data revealed the plane's climb to 31,000 feet before making a U-turn off the coast of Boston.
Anticipating the horse's condition, the pilot requested a vet upon landing at JFK Airport. When asked if they would need assistance, the pilot replied "On the ground, negative, on the ramp, yes," to a control tower worker's inquiry. "We have a horse in... difficulty."
Operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic, the flight encountered a three-hour delay before finally landing in Liege at 6:49 a.m. local time on November 10. A representative from Air Atlanta Icelandic confirmed the accuracy of the incident as depicted in the "You Can See ATC" video.
This unusual event is not the first of its kind, with animal escapades mid-flight seeming to be on the rise. Recent incidents involve an otter and a rat escaping from hand luggage on a VietJet flight from Bangkok, and a bear cub breaking loose from a crate on a flight from Baghdad to Dubai. In April, a South African pilot made an emergency landing after a Cape cobra slithered up his shirt, adding to the growing list of airborne critter adventures.
