An Air Atlanta Icelandic flight was forced to turn back less than 20 minutes into its journey after a horse became loose from its stable in the plane’s cargo hold.
The flight was taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Belgium when the horse became loose and could no longer be secured in its assigned area.
A reconstruction of the flight path uploaded to YouTube showed the plane had climbed to an altitude of 31,000 feet over Boston when the pilots contacted air traffic control.
Viewers can hear the pilots asking if they can return to New York after the crew failed to secure the horse and requested a veterinarian’s presence after landing.
According to the clip posted on the You Can See ATC channel, the flight crew had to offload about 20 tons of fuel near Martha’s Vineyard on the way back to New York.
An Air Atlantic Icelandic plane was en route from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Belgium’s Liège airport when the horse broke free and began running into the plane
Viewers hear pilots plead to be allowed to return to New York after the crew failed to secure the horse and asked for a veterinarian to be present after landing to contain the rogue animal (stock image)
The pilots said, “We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board.” The horse escaped from its stable.
“We have no problem flying, but we have to go back, back to New York.” “We can’t secure the horse back.”
has reached out to Air Atlanta Icelandic for comment.
Flightradar24 reported that the flight took off again at 6:35 p.m. and landed successfully in Liège at 6:49 a.m. local time on November 10 after about six hours.
In the video, the shocked flyboys could be heard calling over the intercom to the control tower and saying: “We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board.” The horse has escaped from its stable.
According to the private YouTube channel, the flight crew had to dump about 20 tons of fuel near Martha’s Vineyard on the way back to New York (stock image)
In early October, an otter and rat smuggled in a passenger’s carry-on luggage caused panic after they ran loose on a flight from Bangkok – with the rat brutally biting one of the crew members’ hand.
Shocked passengers noticed a giant albino rat with glittering red eyes as they went to the toilet on an Airbus A320 bound for Taiwan.
Confused stewardesses searched the plane and noticed a second wild animal – a foot-long otter under a seat.
The footage shows the otter rolling around on the floor next to one of the seats before crew members frantically tried to sort out the situation while passengers cowered in their seats and watched the chaos unfold.
A frightened passenger can be seen trying to avoid the otter as it moves on the ground. The otter rolls around on the carpet before being caught by the cabin crew
The crew can be seen tying up a black bag that apparently contains at least one of the animals.
The otter is then shown moving around in a container at the airport in Taiwan before being transported.
Shockingly, a box containing 28 live turtles was also found when police searched the plane after landing in Taipei after the three-hour and 45-minute budget flight on Vietnamese airline Viet Jet.
Officials launched an investigation into how the creatures were smuggled through security checkpoints at Thailand’s notoriously corrupt Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
In another incident earlier this year, a cheeky orange cat managed to escape from its seat on the bus in search of the comforts of first class. She was pulled out of the hallway by a guard standing nearby and asked, “Is anyone missing a cat?”
“She doesn’t know how to hold a cat,” one passenger can be heard giggling as the flight attendant gently guides the fugitive back down the aisle
Video captured by a fellow flyer showed a courageous flight attendant gently guiding the growling cat back down the aisle, warning passengers to “be careful” as the cat writhed and hissed in her hands.
Halfway across the cabin, the trapped cat makes a final attempt to break free, escaping the flight attendant’s arms and escaping toward the front of the plane again.
“Have you lost your cat?” another grinning companion repeats over the loudspeaker. “She’s running around the plane. ‘We’re going to need you to demand that.’
The owner eventually identified the resigned cat and carted it back to its perch again, thwarting the escape attempt.
According to United Airlines’ travel policy, pets can travel in cabin as long as they are in a hard- or soft-sided carrier that fits under the seat in front of you.
However, the “only rule” is that they always remain in the luggage rack with the door closed.
It is unknown whether an investigation will be conducted into why the horse became loose from its hold.