Mice on a Plane!
An investigative report yesterday revealed a huge infestation of mice onboard an American Airlines 767. The whistle blower, who asked to remain anonymous, filmed the video from the inside of the airplane and sent it to investigative reporter Leisa Zigman at KDSK St. Louis. The informant said that American Airlines knew about the mouse problem but continued to defer maintenance on the plane.
The whistle blower also made repeated calls to the FAA, saying that mice were chewing on wires. He told Zigman that he was concerned that a short could have caused a catastrophic fire onboard the plane. Meanwhile American Airlines contends that the plane was always safe to fly.
Mice are not a widespread problem in aviation, but infestations do happen. There is currently no FAA regulation requiring airlines to dispose of mice or other rodents before allowing infested aircraft to return to service. However, this very public incident is likely to raise awareness and new industry guidelines about the issue.
My solution: just release a few dozen snakes onto the plane. They would eat up all the mice. Problem solved!
Via Digg.
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This is not news! The news is that there is no regulation that requires that it be dealt with promptly. Any aircraft that has ever carried food service carts or containers is likely to have mice. While food on airplanes is something you don’t see too often anymore, this problem does not go away without attention. Airplanes and airplane galleys are typically filthy places. They are seldom given a thorough cleaning and have plenty of nooks and crannies that would make wonderful rodent homesteads. It’s about time this issue got some attention. Mice and mice droppings in air ducts present a serious health hazzard. Add the chewing problem and you have an accident waiting to happen. Maybe it was a mouse that brought down Flt 800 ten years ago today.
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