Resident Rat Grounds Air India Dreamliner for 3rd Time This Month

[gatagato]

One of Air India's Dreamliners has an unwelcome tenant. Spotted off and on, the rat has disrupted flights at least thrice this month, the last instance on Saturday.

The aircraft, worth Rs 1,500 crore (at current prices), has been fumigated repeatedly and rat traps have been laid but there is no shooing away the rodent. Either it's one rat that has stood its ground, say sources, or new ones have hopped aboard.
The last 'sighting' was on Saturday morning when the Boeing 787 was flying from Melbourne to Delhi. The aircraft (VT-ANV) took off from Melbourne as AI309 just before 6am (India time). After flying for about six hours, the rodent was sighted and the aircraft diverted to Singapore where it landed after 1pm. The plane has been grounded there and AI was making alternate arrangements to fly the passengers to Delhi.

Sources said the first time the rat was sighted on the aircraft was about two weeks ago when it was flying from Birmingham to Delhi. Then, five days ago, on April 11, passengers were boarding the aircraft at Delhi to fly to Frankfurt when the rodent surfaced again.
The aircraft was then grounded for fumigation and passengers sent to Germany on another plane. And now for the third time this month, the VT-ANV flight was disrupted by the rat on Saturday. "There is no way to know if the same rat was seen on those three occasions. But if it is so, this is a very sturdy rodent we are talking of as the aircraft was fumigated, laid with rat traps and locked up for several hours after both sightings," said a source.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/51860460.cms

[kellyhound]

The rat was probably disguised as a passenger.

[Oswald2001]

I'm guessing that there is a disgruntled employee involved.

It would be easy to keep re-introducing a rat somewhere on the plane every month or so.

[lesslis2015]

Don't snakes like rats?

Sure hope they check all the wiring. Could definitely cause problems.

[Oswald2001]

Originally Posted by lesslis2015

Don't snakes like rats?

Sure hope they check all the wiring. Could definitely cause problems.

A simple fix.

Just call Mr. Jackson.

[William May]

Rodents are a big problem on airliners. There are no predators on airports, and lots to eat. If one is reported on an aircraft, it normally is pulled out of service until they come up with a little dead body. Once they know the rodent is gone, they run a complete check of all the aircraft's systems, to make sure that wiring wasn't chewed. I worked at America West when they still existed, and I remember at least 2 aircraft grounded for this. They had contract exterminators come in and go through the plane. Like I said, they did not stop until they had a dead animal. Maybe they chewed through the cabin stereo wires........or maybe they chewed through the fire protection control wires. You can't take a chance.
I have also had an private jet come in with an odor problem, and when we investigated, traced it to a wing fairing. We pulled off the wing fairing, and there was a 4 ft. long lizard that had crawled into the area, and then died when the aircraft flew. That was REALLY nasty. If I can find pics of that, I will post them. (Not sure where "dead lizard pictures" should be posted.)

[niknik]

Those dreamliners are incredible. I've seen them flying on approach a few times. The thing looks like it's just floating, like it's barely moving.

[vagabond]

Sounds like it's time to introduce a resident rat terrier...