- This topic has 0 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 13 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Nepal Airline Corporation’s Boeing has been grounded in Hong Kong after a mouse was spotted in the cockpit. This is the second time the Boeing has been grounded, first being in Kathmandu for 11 hours on Monday because of a mouse. They finally caught the mouse and the plane was flown to Kaula Lumpur. Another mouse was spotted by pilots when the plane was in Hong Kong and now it has been grounded there until the mouse gets caught.
CARTOON: DEWEN, REPUBLICABelow is the news story published on Republica about the incident.
PREM DHAKAL
REPUBLICAKATHMANDU, Sept 7: Nepal Airlines Corporation´s Boeing 757 9N-ACB that left Kathmandu for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia late Monday night after being grounded for over 11 hours because of a mouse, has now been grounded at Hong Kong International Airport as another mouse was spotted, this time in the cockpit.
NAC´s Hong Kong-Kathmandu flight has been cancelled while efforts to trap the mouse are ongoing.
“The mouse that has grounded the plane in Hong Kong is not the same one seen while the aircraft was at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Monday,” NAC Spokesperson Raju Bahadur KC stated. “Our engineers have photographs of the mouse that was found dead stuck to sticky glue used as a trap,” KC added.
The engineering department at TIA had given clearance to the plane after the mouse that had jumped out of a box of beverages at around 9:30 Monday morning just before passengers bound for Bangkok were about to embark was eventually found dead at around 8:30 in the evening.
NAC, whose only other Boeing is in Israel for maintenance, had to fly its 133 Bangkok-bound passengers on Thai Airways and pay for five-star accommodation for 63 passengers in Bangkok, all thanks to the roaming rodent.
JJ Pinsloo, shift controller of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (HAECO), which refuels and does minor maintenance for NAC in Hong Kong, confirmed that a small mouse was spotted in the cockpit by pilots at around 6:45 pm local time (4:30 pm NST). The plane that had left Kathmandu for Hong Kong at 12:00 NST had just landed at Hong Kong International Airport when Captain YK Bhattarai and Captain SS Rana saw the tiny rodent.
“We have taken the aircraft under our control and have contacted the pest control department as we are not authorized to kill the mouse,” Pinsloo told Republica. “The pest control people will place traps in the plane and come around six hours later to see if the mouse has been trapped,” he added.
He disclosed that the plane would have to remain longer at the airport or even be released to fly back to Kathmandu, if NAC so demands, if the mouse was not captured. “Due to the nature of this (procedures involved) we cannot provide a departure time. I have informed the local station staff,” Pinsloo emailed NAC in Kathmandu.
NAC Station Manager in Hong Kong Gaur Lal Dangi said that 84 passengers, including around 15 foreigners, were set to fly to Kathmandu Tuesday evening. “We´ll make arrangements for their accommodation at hotels like Regal and Holiday Inn as rooms for all can´t be found at one hotel,” Dangi said. He said the cost of a room in these hotels starts from a minimum of 1,500 HK$ (Rs 15,000) and NAC has to pay separately for board.
Published on 2011-09-07 02:00:51
Original news story by Republica – http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=35686
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.