MICE GROUND A320

This story reminded me of my time constructing the LAX International
Terminal in 1983:

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AVwebFlash Volume 12, Number 29a -- July 17, 2006
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MICE GROUND A320
(http://www.avweb.com/12_29a/leadnews..._192692-1.html)
American Airlines says it has fixed all the damage a rampant mouse
infestation caused to one of its A320s but not soon enough for
maintenance workers who discovered the rodents. According to
documents obtained by KARE TV in Minneapolis, the first mouse
sighting was in early May and the plane was only cleaned, repaired
and returned to service last week. According to the TV station,
maintenance workers in Los Angeles shot video of the damage (which
included dead mice in emergency oxygen masks and chewed
insulation) and called the FAA's safety hotline.
http://www.avweb.com/12_29a/leadnews..._192692-1.html

Back in '83 we were building a new international terminal building at
LAX for the Olympic games to be held the following year in Los
Angeles. I was surprised to find rat droppings and foot prints all
over the jobsite. There was no question, that there was a major rat
infestation on the airport grounds. I set a couple of traps, and
caught a few of these large obnoxious critters.

I thought of the sheet metal discs used to prevent rats from using sea
going ships' hawser lines as a means of traveling between ships and
shore, but no such easy fix was evident to prevent rats from traveling
on international flights. It makes me wonder what prevents rats from
becoming a significant _international_ disease vector.

Perhaps the low temperatures and thin atmosphere at altitude kills
most of those rats that stowaway in unpressurized parts of the
aircraft, but you'd think the airport operator would do something
about exterminating the huge colony of rodents on the airport grounds
anyway.

In a previous article, Larry Dighera said:
(http://www.avweb.com/12_29a/leadnews..._192692-1.html)
American Airlines says it has fixed all the damage a rampant mouse
infestation caused to one of its A320s but not soon enough for

Only one problem: The AA web site doesn't list A320s in the fleet.

http://www.aa.com/content/aboutUs/ou...urPlanes.jhtml


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
If you had the chance of making the amount of pain your lusers had to suffer
dependent on the number of windows on their screens, you would seize the
opportunity, wouldn't you? -- Abigail

On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 18:53:34 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote in ::


Only one problem: The AA web site doesn't list A320s in the fleet.

http://www.aa.com/content/aboutUs/ou...urPlanes.jhtml

Does an Airbus A300-600 count?
http://www.aa.com/content/aboutUs/ou...1D MQBFFTOVMD