Air India turnback: rat on board

[cooperplace]

Air India flight turns back after rat spotted on board - BBC News (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35203731)

787; hopefully rats can't chew carbon fibre.

[KelvinD]

They can chew wires though.

[cooperplace]

yes, and rubber hoses and gaskets. Scary.

[Basil]

Meh, when FO, sitting in dining room in Bombay airport and observed one nonchalantly strolling under table.
Ol' Skip nudged me and whispered "FFS don't mention it or the girls will be exploding in all directions!"

[RF4]

I wonder if AI provides any SOP/guidelines for dealing with the startle factor, if one of these little fellows shows up on the flight deck. The reaction could be quite intense, especially for pilots of the female persuasion.

I remember years ago having dinner with a couple - she was a native of the Punjab. She was doctor, a totally composed 'ice cold' trauma specialist - she had seen it all. A rat was spotted and she dissolved into screaming hysterics, and eventually passed out. It would not be a pretty reaction for the flight deck.

Of course, no male pilot would react like that if he suddenly spotted a rat sitting beside his side stick

[lomapaseo]

was it deployed by mistake or a true emergency?

[Linerider]

Did it fall out of an economy class meal tray?

[pontifex]

I'm reminded of the Canberra on air test after modification with a couple of instruments missing. When, in the climb out, a small owl peered out of one of the holes. Not as bad as a rat though!

[Hotel Tango]

was it deployed by mistake or a true emergency?

:ok::) Like it.

[pattern_is_full]

Just carry some cobras to get rid of the rats - and Samuel L. Jackson to get rid of the cobras... :E

[Out Of Trim]

Basil.. is not Rat... is Hamster! :):E:)




.

From Falwty Towers

[Wageslave]

Turning back from over Iran seems an awfully drastic reaction to a mere rat on board. Just what hazard is realistically posed by a rat? Oh, I know, apocryphal stories of chewing through wiring and no doubt even more hazardous things too. (what, I wonder). Just bow many of those are to be found in the passenger cabin?
Seems a bit over-dramatic to me.

[phylosocopter]

Perhaps they turned back because they were concerned they would not be allowed to unload at destination , biosecurity

[Basil]

I think phylosocopter has it nailed.


"No, no Meester Fawlty, ees rata!"
Wallop!
"Si ees hamster!"

[mary meagher]

World gliding championships in Italy a few years ago. A pilot in flight radioed that there was a snake in his glider.....
Advice followed from other competitors; fly higher, and it will get cold and torpid. No, don't do that, it would snuggle up to you to get warm. Check the eyes; if they are round it is not poisonous. And so on.
The pilot decided his best plan was return to base. Next day all 50 gliders were inspected before flight with extra care....

[India Four Two]

This juxtaposition appealed to my, admittedly, childish sense of humour:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/Screen%20Shot%202015-12-31%20at%2011.56.29%20_zpsbn96oh0s.png

[cooperplace]

it's not aviation, but many years ago I drove off in my car, which had a nearly full tank of fuel, and a few kms down the road the engine stopped: tank empty. Rats had chewed large holes in a fuel line.