Despite my love of German autos, I do not own one and instead use public transportation daily in Frankfurt. While the system is great for getting just about anywhere in town (and indeed, in the country), the underground stations have a serious rodent problem – it is not uncommon to be waiting for the next U-Bahn train with dozens of rats scurrying about within eyesight, both on the tracks and on the platform.
Those little critters came flooding into my mind today as I read that Air India encountered a rat problem onboard an A321 aircraft.
Rats were observed when the Airbus A-321, flying as AI 021, landed at [Delhi] airport from Kolkata. The crew observed many rats running around in the rear half of the aircraft cabin. As soon as all the passengers alighted, the aircraft was taken out of service. Instead of being prepared for the next flight, this bigger version of the A-320 family of planes was taken to a remote bay for fumigation by central warehousing corporation personnel to eliminate all the rats on board.
Once even a single rat is observed on an aircraft, the plane has to be fumigated. “Rats on board an aircraft can lead to a catastrophe if they start chewing up electric wires of a fly by wire plane. If that happens, pilots will have no control on any system on board leading to a disaster,” a senior commander said. What usually prevents such a situation is that passengers inadvertently drop a lot of food on the cabin floor, which keeps rats busy.
Rats typically enter through catering vans, which drive up to aircraft and use hydraulic lifts to rise to aircraft doors in order to load food. Doesn’t give you much confidence of the cleanliness of in-flgiht kitchens does it?
Meanwhile, an Air India spokesman now claims there were not “scores” of rats but only a single one observed but does so in politician double-speak, “What I have been told is that there was only one rat on the aircraft.” You may have been told something, but that is different than flatly denying there were multiple rodents.
Avoid Air India? Certainly not. But it does make me quite uncomfortable to even imagine that I might sleeping on a flight one day and feel something scurrying up my leg. I am shivering in trepidation as I type this and will leave my shoes on next time I fly!
The more latent concern for the flying public would be less the safety of their Hindu vegan meals than embedded rodents gnawing on aircraft wiring at 33,000 feet.
Rats! I have stories on this subject. I read about a rodent infestation on one aircraft where the critters were hiding in the oxygen mask areas above the passengers. Lots of room in there and they are rarely inspected so it was an ideal hiding place.
I wouldn’t say that lack of cleanliness causes a rat infestation. It’s about moisture and food sources and clean kitchens have lots of both. Unless the food is secured in metal containers, the critters are going to get into plastic food bags and garbage cans.
German rats are supposedly a pretty tough breed and have spread around the world. One reason you may see a lot of them in the underground, again, is because of a lot of water. I read on slashdot that a Germany datacenter had a rodent problem under the raised floors and came up with a novel idea: Got a few cats. Adult German rats, however, can be a threat to an adult cat rather than the other way around. Nonetheless, rodents supposedly will avoid a home or area where a cat is on patrol.
Perhaps if there weren’t so many people with cat allergies, some airlines should have mouser cats on the aircraft? There are hypoallergenic cats available but they cost $4K each.
Fumigation or poison is tricky because if it kills them too quickly, they die in the walls or in the aircraft and start to decompose and THEN you have a problem! Arsenic has been the choice of cowardly murderers and pest controllers for millennia since it causes thirst and the pests hopefully run off away from the area in search of water.
If AI is interested, I’d be happy to contract out my cat. Given the steady supply of stuff he drags through the cat door, I’m sure he’d make quick work of a few rats on a plane.
Not the first time, remember Delta had a rat infested plane too.
mmmmmm rat pooo on domestic planes!
Sitting on the “beautiful” Concourse B of the Central Terminal at LaGuardia earlier this week, people were looking my way. They had spotted a mouse scurrying under the seats. (I had been sitting in one of the few spots on the concourse where the air conditioning was working properly–the mouse probably liked this area also!). At LaGuardia, the pests have it easy–live on the concourse & then just walk down the jetway. (Note–I did not see any pests going onto the airplane–just hypothesizing the possibility).