Raccoon in duct delays flight seven hours

Seven hours later, critter scoots away unharmed from jetliner’s air duct system

A raccoon that scurried into the duct system of an Air Canada jet that was set to leave Saskatoon for Toronto caused a seven-hour flight delay.

Ground crews in Saskatoon were connecting an air conditioning unit to the plane Thursday night and apparently disturbed the furry bandit, which had been inside the unit’s hose.

“Our crews worked with the animal control experts to extricate the animal, which was unharmed,” Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah said Friday in an email. “This is the first time we’re aware of such an incident.”

Damien Lee, one of the 79 passengers, said the flight had been due to leave Saskatoon at 2:50 p.m. Before passengers boarded the plane, Lee said he could see a worker who had been inspecting the jet looking spooked. The worker talked to his colleagues and then started taking pictures under the plane. Passengers initially thought it was funny.

“For the most part, it was novelty,” said Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan who was headed to Toronto to hunt for an apartment.

“People were guessing what it was at first. They were like, you know, holding mock bets, not really for real, but they were wondering and shouting out their ideas of what it could be.”

Pilots came down to assess the scene and, within an hour, animal control experts were brought in.

Handlers brought out instruments that looked like lassos to try to catch the animal, he said.

“What can you do? It’s not like somebody did this on purpose, this is an animal in there.”

Eventually, Air Canada said the raccoon scurried off unharmed.

People ran after it and tried cornering it into a kennel, but he thinks it managed to escape, Lee said.

Air Canada said it carried out a full aircraft maintenance inspection before the flight finally took off at 10 p.m.

“It was a circus,” Lee said in a phone interview from Toronto, where the flight finally landed at 3 a.m.

Even though this wasn’t Lee’s longest flight delay, he said it was definitely his weirdest airplane experience.

“It was like, ‘How the hell did that even get in there?”’