A flight headed to Belgium was forced to return to New York due to the conduct of a traveler, but this time, it wasn’t because of an unruly human passenger; it was because of a wayward horse. The 747 cargo plane ascended 31,000 feet before having to turn around off the coast of Boston and land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, according to FlightRadar24.
According to data from the Nov. 9 flight, the 747 cargo plane took off less than 30 minutes before the pilot radioed into air traffic control about the horse on the loose. Audio of the event was obtained by You can see ATC.
“Yes, sir, we are a cargo plane. We have a live animal, horse on board the airplane and the horse managed to escape its stall. We don’t have a problem flying-wise, but we need to return back to New York. We cannot get the horse back secured,” the pilot said.
The plane was forced to make a U-turn near the Canadian border, and in order to return safely to JFK airport, the pilot dumped about 20 tons of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean, 10 miles west of Martha’s vineyard.
Cape Air founder Dan Wolf explained to the local Cape Cod NPR station that the plane needed to dump fuel before landing because planes require less weight for landing than they do for take-off.
Wolf added that while dumping fuel in the atmosphere in general “is not a good thing,” the plane was at a high enough altitude to allow the fuel to evaporate, minimizing the negative environmental impacts, and that it was such a small quantity that it would not have major impacts on the environment.
It remained unclear how the horse got loose, and while no injuries were reported, the pilot requested a veterinarian once the plane landed. The flight was able to make its journey to Belgium the following day.
