Rat on board delays AI flight by 24 hrs

New Delhi: A rat managed to delay an Air India flight by almost 24 hours on Tuesday. The cabin crew of Air India's flight AI 822 spotted a rat in the Boeing 747 when it landed in Delhi late on Monday evening, from Riyadh. The rat was spotted after passengers had disembarked from the aircraft and maintenance teams were clearing the aircraft for its onward journey to Riyadh later on Monday night/Tuesday morning.
The protocol that an airline has to follow once a rat is spotted in an aircraft is that the aircraft has to be fumigated and sealed so that the rodent can be made unconscious. However, for this process to be made effective the temperature should be over ten degrees celsius while the temperature is usually in single digits on December nights. This meant that the fumigation process could be undertaken only late on Tuesday morning when the temperature was high. The flight supposed to depart Delhi at 8.20pm on Monday night, finally took off at 6.55pm on Tuesday.
23/12/09 Times of India

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Categories: Air India - International Dec 2009, Airports Dec 2009, NACIL Dec 2009, Safety Dec 2009