US-bound Air India flight delayed for 9 hours after rat spotted on board

A rat was spotted on board Air India's Delhi-San Francisco flight which had disrupted a flight delayed it by over nine hours on Sunday.

The incident took place on Sunday when the Boeing 777 was taxiing at IGI airport to operate for its one of the longest flights. As per safety protocol, the plane had to be brought back to the terminal and fumigated.

The B-777 was almost full with 172 economy and 34 business class passengers.

The fumigation of the aircraft took six hours and by the time it was over, it took time to find the two commanders and two copilots for this flight. Considering all this, the Air India flight was delayed by 9 hours bacuse of which the passengers seems to be unhappy.

The fumigation process is done in the aircraft to ensure that the rodent is not sighted and is does not pose a threat to safety by cutting electric wires and sending the systems haywire.

Meanwhile, the Air India's chairman Raji Bansal sought the detailed report on how the roddent manaed to enter the aircraft and also how to prevent it in future.

The main reasons for rodents being spotted in aircraft is because the passengers inadvertently drop a lot of food on the cabin floor, which keeps rats busy.

AI flies on the Delhi-San Francisco route is of 15,300-km journey which is covered in 16 to 17 hours an that needs two sets of crew, with one commander and copilot operating first half of the flight and the other two, the second half.

OneIndia News