An Air Atlanta Icelandic flight was forced to turn back less than 20 minutes into its journey after a horse in plane’s the cargo hold broke loose from its stall.
The flight departed New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport for Belgium when the horse became free and was unable to be secured back in its allocated area.
A reconstruction of the flight path, uploaded to YouTube, illustrated the aircraft had ascended to 31,000 feet over Boston when the pilots contacted air-traffic control.
Viewers can hear the pilots asking if they can be allowed to return to New York after the crew could not get the horse secured and asked for a veterinarian to be present after landing.
According to the clip, posted to the channel ‘You can see ATC’, the flight crew were forced to dump about 20 tons of fuel near Martha’s Vineyard as it returned to New York.
An Air Atlantic Icelandic plane was flying from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Belgium’s Liège Airport when the horse broke loose and began to run inside of the plane
Viewers hear the pilots requesting they be allowed to return to New York after the crew could not get the horse secured and for a veterinarian to be present after landing to contain the rogue animal (stock image)
The pilots said: ‘We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board. The horse has broken out of its stall.
‘We don’t have a problem as of flying wise but we need to return, return back to New York. We cannot get the horse back secured.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Air Atlanta Icelandic for comment.
Flightradar24 reported that the flight took off again at 6.35pm and landed successfully in Liege after roughly six hours at 6.49am local time on November 10.
The shocked flyboys could be heard exclaiming over the intercom to the control tower in the video and said: ‘We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board. The horse has broken out of its stall’
According to the privately owned YouTube channel, the flight crew were forced to dump about 20 tonnes of fuel near Martha’s Vineyard while returning to New York (stock image)
In early October, an otter and a rat smuggled in a passenger’s hand luggage sparked panic after they ran free on a flight from Bangkok – with the rat savagely biting one of the crew members on the hand.
Shocked passengers noticed a giant albino rat with glistening red eyes when they walked to the bathroom on the Airbus A320 flying to Taiwan.
Flustered air hostesses searched the plane and noticed a second wild creature – a foot-long otter under a seat.
Footage shows the otter rolling about on the floor by one of the seats before crew members frantically tried to resolve the situation, with passengers cowering in their seats as they watched the chaos unfold.
A frightened passenger can be seen trying to avoid the otter as it moves around on the floor. The otter rolls about on the carpet before it is captured by cabin crew
The crew can be seen tying up a black bag that appears to have at least one of the animals inside it.
The otter is then shown moving about in a container at the airport in Taiwan before it is transported.
Shockingly, a box of 28 live turtles was also found when police searched the plane upon landing in Taipei following the three-hour and 45-minute low-cost flight operated by Vietnamese carrier Viet Jet.
Officials launched an investigation into how the creatures were smuggled through the security checks at the notoriously corrupt Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand.
In another incident earlier this year, a cheeky orange cat managed to flee its coach seat in search of the comforts of first class, was plucked from the aisle by a nearby attendant, who asked – ‘anybody missing a cat?’
‘She doesn’t know how to hold a cat’, one passenger is heard giggling as the flight attendant gingerly leads the escapee back down the aisle
Video captured by fellow flyer showed a brave flight attendant gingerly walking the snarling cat back down the aisle, warning passengers to ‘watch out’ as the feline writhed and hissed in her hands.
Halfway through the cabin, the captive kitty makes one last attempt at freedom, twisting out of the attendant’s arms and fleeing again towards the front of the plane.
‘Have you lost your cat?’ repeats another grinning attendant over the loudspeaker. ‘She is running around the airplane. We’re going to need you to come and claim that.’
The owner finally identified the resigned feline and once more carted it back to its seat, the escape attempt thwarted.
According to United Airlines’ travel guidelines, pets can travel in the cabin as long as they are within a hard or soft-sided carrier that fits beneath the seat in front.
The ‘one rule’, however, is that they always remain in the carrier with the door closed.
It is unknown if an investigation into why the horse broke loose from its hold is being conducted.