A New York City bird attempted to stow itself away in the cabin of an EVA Air flight, creating some disturbance among passengers and crew in the cabin. Photos and videos emerged on social media showing passengers trying to catch the avian intruder. EVA is one of the two largest airlines in Taiwan (the other is state-owned China Airlines). The incident happened at New York JFK Airport on a Boeing 777 before take-off - not far from where the first aerial stowaway in history took place ( Clarence Terhune who stowed away on the Graf Zeppelin in New Jersey ).
Bird videoed in EVA Air cabin
The incident occurred on December 12th at New York's JFK International Airport on EVA Air's Flight BR31 bound for Taipei (the largest city in Taiwan). EVA Air stated the bird had no impact on flight operations. Videos have emerged showing two flight attendants using blankets to try to catch the little bird that had wandered into the cabin. Passengers were also seen trying to catch the birdie. One passenger can be seen standing on his seat with his blanket raised, while another is heard shouting, "Get it!" Amid the commotion, one elderly lady is seen sitting stone-faced with her face mask.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
Eventually, a male passenger wearing an orange EVA Air jacket managed to trap the wayward fowl and was then seen walking away with the bird in his blanket as other passengers clapped and cheered. The man turned out to be an EVA groundcrew member. It's unclear what happened to the bird and if any passenger suffered a whoopsie from the (likely non-house-trained) bird.
Had the bird successfully hitched a ride, it would have had to have endured one of the longest nonstop commercial flights (the flight has a scheduled flight time of 17 hours and 20 minutes). The flight is operated by a Boeing 777 (EVA Air also operates Airbus A330s, Airbus A321s, and Boeing 787s).
Birds typically fly into aircraft cabins to escape the heat of summer or the cold of winter. One active pilot noted that birds in an aircraft cabin are not likely to cause any damage to the cabin, but damage is more likely to occur from the commotion of excited passengers.
Still, birds can pose a serious risk to aircraft in the form of bird strikes. Bird strikes are one of the reasons for rejected take-offs and have even crashed aircraft. Perhaps the most famous bird strike also happened in 2009 in NYC when a US Airways Flight took off from LaGuardia and suffered a bird strike forcing the aircraft to land in the Hudson River.
Related The Miracle On The Hudson - The Full Story
It has now been over 14 years since the incident occurred.
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EVA Air's no-bird policy Photo: Sundry photography \ Shutterstock
The bird was apparently not dissuaded by EVA Air's policy that it only accepts accompanied pet dogs, cats, and rabbits on its aircraft (they can be checked in the cargo compartment). No birds are allowed in the cabin - no animals at all (apart from service dogs carried by disabled passengers). Perhaps the bird thought the regulations only applied to pet birds and not wild and free birds.
"The accompanied pets, only dogs, cats, and rabbits, can be transported on EVA Air's aircraft as checked baggage in the cargo compartment. Pets are not accepted in the cabin except for service dogs carried by disabled passengers." - EVA Air
Related How Common & Dangerous Are Bird Strikes In US Aviation?
A six-fold increase in instances of bird strikes have been reported.
Posts 1 Wrestling alligators and the flight of 100 pigs
There are plenty of eye-catching stories about animals on flights. In one amusing incident, the Air Force had to wrestle back control of their KC-135 Stratotanker from a Florida alligator that had laid claim to the aircraft .
Photo: MacDill Air Force Base
Recently, a KLM flight (Flight 685) from Amsterdam bound for Mexico made a diversion to Bermuda due to the foul odor of a herd of swine . KLM may say it only has limited space for pets, but apparently, it had room for around 100 pigs in its cargo hold. During the transatlantic flight, the stench of the pigs wafted through the cabin compelling the flight crew to divert to Bermuda to off-load the hogs.