135kg pig hogs first-class seat on US flight

Published Oct 31, 2000

Share

Philadelphia - The Federal Aviation Administration is convinced that pigs can fly. Now it wants to know how and why.

The FAA said on Monday its investigators were trying to sort through a bizarre series of events that allowed a 135kg pig to fly first-class aboard a nonstop USAirways flight from Philadelphia to Seattle.

In the rare case of a pig that actually flew, the porker boarded USAirways Flight 107 on October 17 with its two women owners and 198 other human passengers, and slept for most of the six-hour flight.

But the animal went hog wild as the Boeing 757 taxied to the terminal in Seattle.

The squealing beast ran through the plane, discharging faeces as it went, and tried to get into the cockpit before taking refuge in the aircraft's food galley.

The pig was last seen being hauled off the plane and into an airport elevator by its two owners and another passenger.

"It will not happen again," promised USAirways spokesperson David Castelveter.

FAA investigators were expected to examine the flight's passenger list and interview every member of the crew on board the plane.

"We'd like to know how a 300-pound pig flew first-class," said FAA spokesperson Jim Peters. "We're looking into all aspects - safety and compliance and sanitation. We want to know what the company's animal policy is."

The Philadelphia Daily News, which first reported the strange tale, said the owners got permission to take their unruly pet aboard the flight by producing a doctor's note that described the pig as a 5,8kg "service animal", like a seeing-eye dog.

They also bought the pig a ticket.

At first, flight attendants tried to stow the pig in the rear of the plane but found that it blocked an emergency exit. So they opted to wedge the animal between seats 1A and 1C in the first-class section instead.

USAirways said it would allow passengers to board with dogs, cats and birds as free baggage, but only if the animals were small enough to fit under a seat in a container. There were exceptions for larger canines that served as guide dogs for the blind, however. - Reuters

Related Topics: