Rats Force PIA To Ground A Boeing 777 At Islamabad Airport

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:57 am

According to Pakistani news channels, a PIA Boeing 777 has been grounded at Islamabad Airport due to presence of rats in the aircraft. The aircraft had arrived from Birmingham as flight PK-792.

Decision has been taken to fumigate the Boeing 777 and experts for this purpose are coming to Islamabad from Karachi. According to PIA Engineering sources quoted by news channels it will take 24 hours to clear the aircraft for its next flight.

AirBlue · Post by **AirBlue** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:37 pm

i sincerely hope that those rats didnt chew any wiring up - otherwise this doesnt sound good ...

bernyjee · Post by **bernyjee** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:49 pm

Since the aircraft arrived from Britain, I wonder if these are Brit rats who boarded the aircraft after smelling Biryani...

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:59 pm

^ A Pakistani news channel reporter also said that possibility of rats entering PIA Boeing 777 at Birmingham Airport cannot be ruled out.

The breed/origin of rats will become clear after they are caught dead or alive

Abbas

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:38 pm

According to latest reports, a team equipped with traps failed to find any rat inside the Boeing 777 and cleared the aircraft to operate its next flight.

The Boeing 777 has left Islamabad on a flight to London. The whole incident delayed London-bound flight for three hours.

Abbas

R.F. · Post by **R.F.** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 4:03 pm

Abbas,
Pls. Chk your PM

iceman · Post by **iceman** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:38 pm

the rats were after the biryani palaou,,but unfortunately the airhostess had eaten the leftovers too,,=pp

loveinlife · Post by **loveinlife** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:48 pm

it was AP-BID,i seen it while landing at bhx on sun 05 july around 1435.

Aer Pakistan · Post by **Aer Pakistan** » Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:32 pm

Correction AP-BID still in Islamabad and AOG. PK swap aircraft and put AP-BHW to operated in to LHR . flight arrived 2hrs 47 min late.

every airline face these problem. second if any wire been cut by rat will send message to copit tell crew that data is missing which result in genrates code . so these 777 are safe to fly.

Jacobin777 · Post by **Jacobin777** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:44 am

iceman wrote:the rats were after the biryani palaou,,but unfortunately the airhostess had eaten the leftovers too,,=pp

Actually the recent PK FA's have been rather slender....at least most which I've seen...

Regardless, PK's service is second to none...now they need to work on other things.....

Abbas Ali · Post by **Abbas Ali** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:21 am

Aer Pakistan wrote:Correction AP-BID still in Islamabad and AOG. PK swap aircraft and put AP-BHW to operated in to LHR . flight arrived 2hrs 47 min late.

You're right Ali, according to a report in July 7 edition of English daily 'The News', the Boeing 777 that had arrived at Islamabad Airport from Birmingham with reports of rats in it, was due to operate flight to London from Islamabad but the aircraft remained grounded at Islamabad. Another PIA aircraft arrived in Islamabad as flight PK-368 from Karachi and later this aircraft operated flight to London from Islamabad.

I hope grounded Boeing 777 soon gets cleared to begin operating flights after completion of fumigation process.

Here's 'The News' report.

Great rats to fly with!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

By Khalid Iqbal

RAWALPINDI: Passengers heaved a sigh of relief when their plane from Birmingham finally landed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport here on Monday, as they had been pestered by a number of rats who travelled with them all the way from Birmingham to Islamabad.

Dozens of big rats were present in the Boeing-777 flight No PK-792 that started its journey from Birmingham and landed here at 6:30 am on Monday. The passengers faced panic and disturbance due to the presence of the rats throughout the journey.

According to schedule, this flight, which had to leave for London at 11:30 am on Monday, could not be cleared of the rodents. The PIA management sent more than 50 mousetraps for catching the rats through its flight PK-368 from Karachi. However, the operation to catch the rats failed and the passengers of flight PK-792 took off at 2:30 pm on Monday instead of 11:30 am. The change, however, was that the passengers left on flight No PK-368 and not the original PK-792.

PIA Deputy Director Muhammad Latif admitted that big rats were present in the flight from Birmingham. He told The News that the engineering staff of the airlines succeeded in trapping the rats after a hard struggle. The big rats might have entered the plane while it was parked at the London Airport cargo centre, he added.

As the plane took off from the London airport, he said, the rats created panic and disturbance among the passengers and the plane staff informed the PIA officials about it.The passengers, who landed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, strongly protested against the incident.

APP: PIA Spokesman Sultan Hassan said on Monday that the Boeing 777 was grounded at the Islamabad Airport when the rats were found inside the plane. Talking to a TV channel, he said that after fumigation, the plane would be made operational.

Source: The News

Mice on PIA flight

LAHORE: The crew of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Birmingham to Islamabad was put on its toes when it learnt that mice accompanied them on board, a private TV channel reported on Monday. According to the channel, the passengers of PIAÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s flight PK-792 that landed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport early on Monday, complained to the staff of seeing mice running around in the plane. The PIA administration called for 50 mice-catching machines from Karachi through another flight and managed to rid the plane of the mice after a long ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“battleÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢. The flight that was to leave for London at 11am eventually left at 2:30pm. daily times monitor

Source: Daily Times

Raza_Ali · Post by **Raza_Ali** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:47 am

If the mice boarded the plane from Heathrow, it is a slap in the face of British Airport Authorities. They should put their own house in order.

Zulfiqar · Post by **Zulfiqar** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 9:19 am

The NEWS reported:
'PIA Deputy Director Muhammad Latif admitted that big rats were present in the flight from Birmingham. He told The News that the engineering staff of the airlines succeeded in trapping the rats after a hard struggle. The big rats might have entered the plane while it was parked at the London Airport cargo centre, he added.

As the plane took off from the London airport, he said, the rats created panic and disturbance among the passengers and the plane staff informed the PIA officials about it.'

Mr Deputy Director should realise that Birmingham and London do not share airports. Perhaps its a reporting error.

Also i find the idea of '50 mice-catching machines' quite amusing. I think the Daily Times reporter meant mouse/rat traps.

Rats are nocturnal creatures, atleast they are more active at night. It is possible that the rats boarded the plane in Birmingham but it is also possible that they entered the plane in Pakistan (where the plane possibly overnights for maintenance) and made their way into the cabin enroute or in birmingham trying to escape the commotion of unloading and loading of cargo. I believe not long ago rats were spotted in the aircraft in Pakistan and mentioned on HOP.

Adnan Anwar · Post by **Adnan Anwar** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:04 am

Rat scan needs to be invented so that All Meerpuri's luggage from UK is scanned for rats.

boomtha · Post by **boomtha** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:26 pm

i think in future Pk flights load will be mentioned like 19/209/50 Rats.

If these rats boarded from Pakistan before flight take off for U.K.Then these rats may be returned back by UK border agency due to lack of proper doctuments.

The other possibility is that these rats may also be some of PIA sacked emloyees who have been reinstane recently.