honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 10:37 a.m., Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Squirrel diverts Tokyo-to-Dallas flight to Honolulu

By Bloomberg News Service

American Airlines diverted a Tokyo-to-Dallas flight to Honolulu last week after pilots heard a squirrel in the cockpit.

Flight 176, a Boeing Co. 777 with 202 passengers aboard, arrived here about 5:30 a.m. Friday after the flight crew heard a noise in an overhead bin, found the squirrel and decided to touch down at the nearest airport, said John Hotard, a spokesman for Fort Worth, Texas-based American. It was unclear as to how or where the squirrel had boarded the aircraft.

The passengers were sent on to their final destinations on other flights, he said.

"It was a bit unusual, but it's standard procedure for us" to take precautions if there's a potential threat to an aircraft, Hotard said. A squirrel might chew through wires on a plane, he said.

Workers from the state Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Service set traps and captured the animal, which was later killed. Its remains are being tested for rabies.