Baboon causes flight havoc

[LTN man]

A drugged baboon smuggled onto a Yemeni plane caused havoc after it awoke and broke lose during a flight, the official Yemeni news agency SABA reported on Thursday.
The incident occurred 90 minutes into the scheduled flight between Sanaa and Damascus.

Chaos reigned, as women and children screamed and crew members struggled to catch the escaped baboon, the agency said.

The baboon turned out to be part of an illegal consignment of Hamadryas baboons that a smuggler had knocked out with anaesthetic and then brought on board in two boxes.

Security agents on board the plane arrested the smuggler, who was named as Badih. He is reported to have admitted he was taking the baboons to Syria to sell for $3,000.

The baboons are now said to be in police custody at Damascus Airport, awaiting repatriation to Yemen.

The Hamadryas baboon species is unique to the mountains of Yemen and the south-western Saudi province of Asir.

[Thrust-Bump]

.....and once the baboon had calmed down, he returned to the flightdeck and made a perfect landing........

[Iz]

Well wasn't a monkey the first earthly animal in space?
They probably figure, if a monkey can do it, surely pilots can do it too.

[Cyclic Hotline]

Maybe the first case of primate-rage?

Much in common with so many other air-rage cases: - drugged ape like creature runs wild!

[broadreach]

Reminds me of a 70s incident when, if I recall correctly, an F-27 had to make a hasty arrival anywhere after one of the drugged Bengal tigers it was carrying woke up and started strolling around. An ATC wit, thinking the pilot might be pushing to jump the queue, suggested he "put it in the tank".

What, then, would be the appropriate reply to "xxx we have a baboon running lose in the passenger cabin...."?

See ya later, alligator...

[blowawayjet]

Reminds me of what happend to a friend of mine on the CL44 in Kin, when he was carrying 2 crocs, who broke out loose.

[This message has been edited by blowawayjet (edited 04 May 2001).]

[Checkboard]

Not american are you, Iz :)

First American in space was a monkey, first animal was of course Laika (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2572/laika.html), although other animals had travelled on sounding rocket from both countries, Laika (Russian for "barker") was the first in orbit.

[Iz]

Aye Checkboard!

No sorry, not American :) Flown there for two years but apparently haven't absorbed all of American history ;)

[AfricanSkies]

lots of baboons on our aircraft...


http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1311000/1311090.stm

[Bouncy Landing]

Having flown in a Yemania B727 from Sana'a I can't say I'm surprised. I would challenge the notion of it being flight deck crew, seems more the cabin crew profile, from what I can recall!

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[Loc-out]

Aren't Baboons being tried in the courts at regular intervals.

Why all the fuss about this incident?

[This message has been edited by Loc-out (edited 04 May 2001).]

[Whooaahh]

A fews years ago we were forced to transport 2 ( boxed ) zebra' from in a Gulfstream III after "the boss" received them as a gift Pres. of Tanzania.

Needless to say, one of them kicked its way out of the box somewhere over Somalia resulting in both flight attendants hiding in the forward toilet for the remaining five hours of the flight, holding the door closed between the flight deck and the passenger cabin.

[LatviaCalling]

I remember being on a legitimate Air America flight in Vietnam which contained four suckling pigs, a dozen or more chickens and two goats -- plus 37 passengers.

No one got too excited except the chickens which were put in the netting above the seats. Those were the days, and I hope to God, they'll never come again.

[Stonebird]

Good security there....are they too busy looking for guns and explosives that they miss the odd skeleton in the x-ray machines??!