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A Boeing 747 cargo plane bound for Belgium was forced to dump 20 tons of fuel into the Atlantic and return to John F. Kennedy International Airport on Thursday after a horse on board became loose from its stable, according to air traffic control audio recordings.
According to FlightRadar24, the Air Atlanta Icelandic charter plane had just reached an altitude of 31,000 feet about 30 minutes after takeoff when its pilot radioed air traffic control.
“We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board,” the pilot can be heard in the recording. “The horse escaped from its stable.”
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A model shows a large animal cargo hold in a Lufthansa aircraft. (Andreas Arnold/Picture Alliance via Getty Images/File / Getty Images)
“There is no problem with flying,” the pilot continued. “But we must return to New York as we cannot secure the horse again.”
The plane made a U-turn off the coast of Boston to dump about 20 tons of fuel across the Atlantic “10 miles west of Martha’s Vineyard” to reduce the plane’s weight for an early landing, the pilot told air traffic control.
As the fuel was being dumped, the pilot requested that a veterinarian be available when the plane landed.
“I think we need a vet — vet, I guess you call it — for the horse when it lands,” the pilot told the air traffic controller. “Can you talk to New York about this?”
Airplanes stand on the tarmac of the international terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/File/Getty Images)
After landing, air traffic control asked the pilot if he needed help. “On the ground, negative,” the pilot responded, according to the audio recording reviewed by Fox News Digital. “On the ramp, yes, we have a horse in trouble.”
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A short time later, around 6:35 p.m., the horse was successfully harnessed. According to FlightRadar24, the cargo flight landed at Liège airport in Belgium on Friday morning.
Air Atlanta Icelandic did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the incident.
According to the American Journal of Transportation, when transported by plane, horses are loaded directly into crates on the tarmac.
These stands are raised to the level of the aircraft on pallets, then pushed into an open door and locked into a pallet system on the floor of the aircraft.
John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, NY (Google Maps / Google Maps)
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John F. Kennedy Airport has a $65 million terminal called “The Ark” specifically equipped to transport horses and other animals, FOX 5 New York reported.
The airline has 48 dedicated on-board horse boxes, a 24-hour reception center and a dedicated horse quarantine facility.
Horse owners can reportedly expect to pay four figures per stable to transport horses on transatlantic flights, the outlet reported.