Pilot stops flight
A pilot in the UK stopped his plane in order to let a baby hedgehog cross the runway. A Loganair flight, it was leaving from the town of Stornoway, in the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland. It was only a short journey to the Scottish city of Inverness, on the British mainland.
It was about 5:20pm. A short flight – the pilot would have been hoping to be sorted by the early evening – but you can’t always account for the unexpected. All but ready to take off, he spotted the hedgehog on the runway.
Luckily, the 30 travelers on board didn’t mind, as they were only delayed for a couple of minutes, before continuing to take off. The captain let them know of the delay on the tannoy last Thursday afternoon.
With the Saab 340 plane leaving from one of the more remote regions of the UK, wildlife including hedgehogs are relatively common, and the hedgehog sighting wasn’t entirely unexpected. When taking off from Stornoway Airport, pilots are asked to check for wildlife, so that crises can be averted – like what happened here.
Scotland – remote islands and wildlife
Flights departing from the airport travel to a number of Scottish destinations, as well as to Manchester and London further south in England. All journeys are quick, so a delay of a couple of minutes wouldn’t have been too serious.
Hedgehogs aren’t native to the Outer Hebrides, being introduced there. On some Scottish islands, there were even plans to eradicate them, though later, killing them was banned and they were to be trapped and released to the mainland instead.
It’s not the first time there’s been unexpected drama on a plane leaving from a UK airport – a couple of weeks ago, an off-duty pilot going on a family vacation had to fly the plane himself.
If helping animals is your thing, check out this article on incorporating veganism into your diet!
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