Forget about snakes on a plane. A pesky feline left airport officials in Halifax scratching their heads Wednesday morning.
An Air Canada flight from Halifax to Toronto scheduled to depart at 5:30 a.m. was delayed for more than four hours after a cat escaped from its owner’s carrier prior to take off, then made itself comfortable inside the cockpit by squeezing itself inside some panels near wiring.
“We’ll see a movie come out of this one,” joked Halifax Stanfield International Airport spokesman Peter Spurway.
“It’s a first for me and I haven’t ran into anybody yet who has heard of his before.”
With the cat refusing to come out, Spurway said the decision was made by Air Canada to stop boarding the flight and the passengers on the plane had to go back into the waiting area. Maintenance workers then came on scene to remove panels, and dissemble part of the cockpit somewhat, before the cat was retrieved, unharmed.
“They (then) checked all the wiring where the cat had been to make sure there was no damage and connected properly,” he said. “They then put the panels back on, put the passengers back on the plane, and then they left at about 10 a.m.”
Spurway “presumed” the woman carrying the cat onto the plane was back on it with her animal when they plane took off.
