Plan B Forum

I just saw a story about a cargo flight from New York to Belgium that returned to new York when a horse got loose.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/plane-forced- ... 00624.html

I can beat that. I had an order for a German Wire-Haired Pointer with a breeder in Utah, about 30 years ago. I had been waiting for more than two years. A good hunting dog dog is not stamped out with a cooked cutter. I had to give the breeder three pages of information about me and my family in order to match the individual characteristics of the pup to my and my family. During this time there were many phone calls and the price was negotiated to be about 1200-1500, plus shipping, if I did not want to come and get the dog my self. OK. The breeder called me and said he had a 6 month old pup that had been returned by the first buyer for some physical and cosmetic problems. These were details that did not bother me (I had no desire to breed the bitch, and the weird looks of one ear when it was running was nothing to me.) As a reject, he would sell it to me for 500 dollars, plus shipping (another 300-500) by air. Eventually I got a call from the air freight office in Philly that my dog was here but there was a problem. I need to come in right now and take care of it.

Seems there was a TIGER on the same plane that got loose. My dog was in a plastic shipping crate that had no signs of damage and they swore the tiger had not touched it -- BUT. They wanted me to sign a release. I did and paid nothing. for the air fare. No sign of long term affect from the tiger exposure but the bitch did make every effort to kill any cat it came near. She was the best bird hunting dog I ever worked with and a great companion for my family including a two year old grandson, who got a big thrill feeding her french fries from his hand.

snailgate

I saw a story about that loose horse and was sad to see that they had a request in for a veterinarian to meet the plane. I suspect the horse was terminally damaged while loose in the cargo hold and is in need of euthanizing. Too bad that some moron didn't latch things properly.

BP--i recall a number of years ago (likely the 70s or 80s) hearing about how a tiger got loose in air cargo in either Newark or JFK. I don't recall the entire story, but they discovered it after landing. The story was strange enough that I can still recall it after all those years. Could that have been the same flight?

Big RR wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 16, 2023 2:26 pm

BP--i recall a number of years ago (likely the 70s or 80s) hearing about how a tiger got loose in air cargo in either Newark or JFK. I don't recall the entire story, but they discovered it after landing. The story was strange enough that I can still recall it after all those years. Could that have been the same flight?

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/02/02/arch ... er-is.html

Munich to JFK 1975. So, no. Although it was a GERMAN pointer eh?

Thanks Meade; I'm surprised there is an account of it online. Indeed, I would think those German tigers could be pretty scary Maybe the dog was a dachshund?

ETA: German Tigers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_he ... _battalion

The problem with the horse getting loose on the plane isn't just pure horse $hit. Anything horsing around with that much weight will greatly affect the CG or center of gravity of the plane. Even a jet liner has to pay close attention to weight and balance. Think of the wing as being the center of a seesaw, or the fulcrum of a lever.

Too much weight forward or aft can cause a plane to crash.

Here is an example of what can happen with an aft CG load. Luckily it was on the ground when the "load" went aft. https://nypost.com/2023/10/23/shocking- ... ie-at-jfk/

Also luckily, planes, even small ones, are built with a hard point to take the damage if something like that happens.