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Mighty Mouse Grounds Huge
SAS Airbus A330

Charles Wilson

August 18^th 2011

Shortly before boarding on the huge SAS Airbus 330 due to take off for Chicago, from Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport a stowaway was spotted scurrying along the aisle. The staff tried to catch the mouse, but it was too quick and slipped out of sight.

Mousetraps were brought in and placed strategically in the airplane. The mighty mouse refused to cooperate and stayed hidden in spite of an extensive search onboard and the numerous mousetraps placed inside the aircraft.

Swedish air operator SAS cancelled the flight with 250 passengers booked, from Stockholm to Chicago, because of the mighty mouse.

SAS spokesperson Malin Selander said, “For safety reasons, you don’t board when there’s a mouse on board. We hope to find it overnight. He added that the 250 passengers on the Airbus A330 flight had been understanding about the situation.

It is not the finer feelings of the passengers that worried the airline staff, but the safety angle. The mouse could have crawled in amongst cables and gnawed through a few strategically vital wires in the Airbus 330’s electrical system. Once the mouse was caught a complete inspection was carried out.

Technicians had to resort to using smoke to force the mouse out as it evaded the mousetraps.

Airbus A330 is one of SAS’s biggest planes and they had no substitute plane available. SAS attempted to rebook them onto alternative flights after lengthy delays. The passengers waited in a line that moved at a speed of “six feet an hour.”

The whole incident with the mouse is estimated to have cost SAS close to $165,000.

The spokesman said it was the first time a mouse had been discovered on an SAS plane. But other airlines have suffered rodent disruptions. In November 2009, two Delta Airlines flights between New York and London were cancelled when a mouse was spotted onboard.

In December 2006, eighty mice escaped from a passenger’s bag on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight. Over 100 passengers were panic-stricken when the mice escaped at 28,000 ft and scampered around the cabin, some falling on passengers’ heads.

The flight landed safely and the owner of the mice was detained by police who were curious how he managed to get the mice onto the plane.

In June rats were found in a cabinet containing medical equipment including a defibrillator, by crew of a Qantas Boeing 747 jet while carrying out checks before take-off. The rats caused the Qantas flight to be grounded for more than a day.

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