Cat in the cockpit forces emergency landing

[John Ousterhout]

Cat loose in cockpit causes emergency landing in Brussels

BRUSSELS, Belgium (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.

================================================== ==

So what happened to the duck?

- J.O.-

[John Galban]

John Ousterhout > wrote in message >...
> Cat loose in cockpit causes emergency landing in Brussels
>
<snip>

Kinda gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling (pun intended) about those
impenetrable steel cockpit doors, doesn't it?

I can imagine the new security precautions that will have to go into
effect to prevent potential terrorist felines from accessing cockpits.
Air Marshall dogs????

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[tony roberts]

Just as I suspected.

Pilots will do anything for some free pussy

tony



In article >,
John Ousterhout
> wrote:

> Cat loose in cockpit causes emergency landing in Brussels
>
> BRUSSELS, Belgium (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.
>
> ================================================== ==
>
> So what happened to the duck?
>
> - J.O.-
>

[Michelle P]

John,
the cockpit door are not steel, too heavy. They are of arimid fiber.
Kevlar/Nomex and the like. Much lighter and stronger.
Michelle (installed a few)

John Galban wrote:

>John Ousterhout > wrote in message >...
>
>
>>Cat loose in cockpit causes emergency landing in Brussels
>>
>>
>>
><snip>
>
> Kinda gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling (pun intended) about those
>impenetrable steel cockpit doors, doesn't it?
>
> I can imagine the new security precautions that will have to go into
>effect to prevent potential terrorist felines from accessing cockpits.
> Air Marshall dogs????
>
>John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)
>
>

--

Michelle P ATP-ASEL, CP-AMEL, and AMT-A&P

"Elisabeth" a Maule M-7-235B (no two are alike)

Volunteer Pilot, Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

Volunteer Builder, Habitat for Humanity

[Michael]

Shiver Me Timbers > wrote
> Imagine what a shock it must have been to be flying peacefully one
> moment and being attacked by a cat the next.

Believe me, I can imagine.

After a long day of flying, hanging out, eating burgers, and generally
having fun, it was time to depart for home. But as often happens on a
beautiful warm evening, I didn't get around to going until after dark.
I had flown the plane several times that day with no issues, so a
walkaround with a flashlight quickly convinced me that there were no
issues that would prevent me from making the 15 minute flight home.

I got in, strapped in, started up, did a quick runup and pulled out
onto the runway. The runway was grass with no markings, but it did
have lights. Off the end of the runway there were only open fields,
so there was something of a black hole effect, but the plane had a
full gyro panel and I was prepared for this.

I was not prepared for what happened at rotation. There was a sharp
pain in my left shoulder, and then a big fat fuzzy thing climbed into
my lap, completely blocking my view of the instrument panel. It was a
cat from one of the hangar homes.

I generally like cats, and really don't mind them climbing on my lap
to be petted under normal circumstances, but this was a little much.
Keeping one hand on the yoke, I used the other to try and shoo the cat
away. I didn't dare lower the nose - there were power lines that I
had to clear - so I stared off into the darkness trying to discern a
horizon. There were a few lights in the distance, and by holding
those in position relative to the bracing tubes in the cockpit, I
maintained some semblance of a wings-level climb attitude.

The cat, now throughly miffed, climbed off my lap and onto the dash.
This was an improvement of sorts - I could now see the instruments -
but a big chunk of my view forward was blocked and that would not do
for landing. The cat curled up in the corner of the windshield to
sulk.

More prodding got the feline to move, and as she tried to cross to the
other side of the dash, I grabbed the furball and threw her into the
back seat. All this took about a minute, I think, since I was now at
about 600 ft. I turned crosswind, flew a pattern, and landed without
further incident to an accompaniment of annoyed meowing from the back.
I then reached into the back, opened the rear door, and the stowaway
made her escape.

My second attempt at returning home was uneventful.

Michael

[Shiver Me Timbers]

> Michael > wrote:

Now imagine if you had been so distracted or even attacked by this cat,
and had crashed your plane and been killed.

There would be a good chance that the cat survived the accident and
would be able to escape through a hole or popped out door or window.

Now imagine the next day when the NTSB and others are looking
at the wreck trying to figure out why your plane came down.

[BllFs6]

Your just lucky it wasnt a ****ed racoon in the airplane....then youd REALLY
have something to complain about....assuming you lived :)

take care

Blll

[Michael]

Shiver Me Timbers > wrote
> Now imagine if you had been so distracted or even attacked by this cat,
> and had crashed your plane and been killed.

Could easily have happened. If the vis had not been good enough for
me to see those lights in the distance, I could easily have lost
control of the airplane, what with no visible horizon and all flight
instruments blocked.

> There would be a good chance that the cat survived the accident and
> would be able to escape through a hole or popped out door or window.

Right.

> Now imagine the next day when the NTSB and others are looking
> at the wreck trying to figure out why your plane came down.

No problem. They would simply decide that I lost control of the
airplane after losing visual references. They would reconcile that
with my instrument experience by citing the non-standard layout of the
panel and the old-fashioned instruments.

It would be about as accurate as most NTSB reports of light GA
crashes.

Michael