Post by Dave Homewood on Feb 27, 2023 16:16:47 GMT 12
Air New Zealand flight delayed on tarmac due to prickly customer: a hedgehog
Hamish McNeilly
15:13, Feb 27 2023
A hedgehog on the runway at Dunedin Airport caused a delay for one aircraft arriving from Auckland.
An airport runway wasn’t the sharpest of landing spots for a hedgehog.
The bizarre incident unfolded on Dunedin Airport’s tarmac just after 2pm on Monday, when the eagle-eyed captain of flight NZ675, which had just landed from Auckland, spotted something unusual on the runway.
“The captain said, ‘I’m sorry I’m going to have to make an announcement that I’ve never made before, there is a hedgehog on the runaway’,” passenger Arthur Taylor told Stuff.
“The plane came to a grinding halt ... I think they were worried they would suck the bloody thing up in an engine.”
HAMISH MCNEILLY/STUFF
A plane arrives at Dunedin Airport. (File photo)
Firefighters were called to remove the trespasser from the runway, and the plane was later able to taxi to the terminal, he said.
An Air New Zealand spokesperson confirmed flight NZ675 had a small delay of five minutes “while the aircraft waited for a hedgehog to be removed”.
“The hedgehog made if off the runway safely.”
In 2016 Stuff reported that dead hedgehogs – usually squashed – were particularly problematic at Wellington Airport, with five dead in 12 months, although the spiky creatures posed “minimal risk” to planes.
At the time, an airport spokesperson said the reporting of hedgehogs was part of “best practice for reporting all wildlife events at the airport as set in our safety and security procedures”.
“Over the course of a year it would not be unusual to have a few hedgehogs walk across the runway.”
www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/131347868/air-new-zealand-flight-delayed-on-tarmac-due-to-prickly-customer-a-hedgehog
Hamish McNeilly
15:13, Feb 27 2023
A hedgehog on the runway at Dunedin Airport caused a delay for one aircraft arriving from Auckland.
An airport runway wasn’t the sharpest of landing spots for a hedgehog.
The bizarre incident unfolded on Dunedin Airport’s tarmac just after 2pm on Monday, when the eagle-eyed captain of flight NZ675, which had just landed from Auckland, spotted something unusual on the runway.
“The captain said, ‘I’m sorry I’m going to have to make an announcement that I’ve never made before, there is a hedgehog on the runaway’,” passenger Arthur Taylor told Stuff.
“The plane came to a grinding halt ... I think they were worried they would suck the bloody thing up in an engine.”
HAMISH MCNEILLY/STUFF
A plane arrives at Dunedin Airport. (File photo)
Firefighters were called to remove the trespasser from the runway, and the plane was later able to taxi to the terminal, he said.
An Air New Zealand spokesperson confirmed flight NZ675 had a small delay of five minutes “while the aircraft waited for a hedgehog to be removed”.
“The hedgehog made if off the runway safely.”
In 2016 Stuff reported that dead hedgehogs – usually squashed – were particularly problematic at Wellington Airport, with five dead in 12 months, although the spiky creatures posed “minimal risk” to planes.
At the time, an airport spokesperson said the reporting of hedgehogs was part of “best practice for reporting all wildlife events at the airport as set in our safety and security procedures”.
“Over the course of a year it would not be unusual to have a few hedgehogs walk across the runway.”
www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/131347868/air-new-zealand-flight-delayed-on-tarmac-due-to-prickly-customer-a-hedgehog
