FARTING COWS BRING DOWN HEATHROW PLANE
Farting cow brings down plane over Heathrow
A FRANTIC pilot made a mayday call and dived into an emergency landing – because FARTING COWS made him believe his plane was about to go up in flames.
The Korean Airways 747 freighter carrying 390 cows was en route from Chicago O’Hare airport to Brussels when the fire alarm blared over the Irish Sea.
Fearing his plane was about to become a 400ton fireball, the pilot and his crew pulled on oxygen masks and made a mayday call to air traffic control at Heathrow.
Air traffic controllers cleared their air lanes of traffic, allowing the Korean pilot a clear run to make an emergency plunge towards ground.
It was only later that the pilot found the fire alert had been triggered by humidity caused by the cows’ notoriouslyflatulent arses.
An account of the emergency was released by the Civil Aviation Authority and published on the Aviation Herald website.
A source said: “A worried crew member was sent onto the main deck to investigate but saw no sign of smoke or fire.
“But following procedure they donned oxygen masks and started ‘a controlled cabin depressurisation and rapid descent’ – an emergency landing, if you will.
Humidity
“After extensive checks on the aircraft, the pilot said he believed that the presence of the cattle led to higher levels of humidity on board.”
The Korean Airways landing at Heathrow is one of 88 mayday calls reported to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last year.
A mayday landing is the highest level of emergency and is rarely used except in the most urgent cases.
Other reasons for using the international distress signal have included low fuel levels, suspected terrorism and crew members being struck down with food poisoning and becoming unable to safely man the plane.