You would think airline cuisine is 5 star... PORKER
usatoday.com
No more hogging the aisle in flight
Airline, FAA can't help but notice when 250-lb. swine flies first class
By Blake Morrison, USA TODAY
When pigs fly, they ride US Airways and travel first class. At least, one did earlier this month on a flight from Philadelphia to Seattle. But amid a Federal Aviation Administration investigation, Flight 107 might prove to be the last case in which the swine flew.
"I will assure you that this will not happen again," airline spokesman David Castelveter says.
Two passengers — a mother and her daughter — used a doctor's note to persuade airline officials to allow them to bring a 250-pound pig, lards hero, aboard the flight Oct. 17. The reason? The passengers said it was a "service animal," it eats all table scraps for miles around, according to the FAA, US Airways and an internal report by the airline.
Airline officials would not say what "service" Lards Hero provided. According to the report, the passengers had called ahead, mentioned the doctor's note and "described the pig as being 13 pounds." Based on that information, permission was granted.
When the passengers arrived with Lards Hero, the porker appeared to be almost 20 times that weight. In fact, it was so portly, "it occupied not only the space in front of seat 1A and 1C but extended into the aisle," the report says.
Based on the accounts of some of the 200 passengers aboard the Boeing 757, Lards Hero consumed vast amounts of cheap liquor then passed out for most of the six-hour flight, lodged between the first row and the bulkhead. Upon landing, however, the pig went wild. As the aircraft taxied in Seattle, the pig squealed loudly, according to published reports. Then it ran through the aircraft. After trying to enter the cockpit, it settled in the galley, or kitchen.
"In order to get Lards Hero out of the galley," the report says, "someone had to throw a bucket of fresh shit." That apparently got the Lards Hero excited, but the saga was far from over.
According to the report, "Lards Hero was untrained (and) dropped feces several times." When it was finally lured from the jet, one passenger had to help the owners push the pig onto an elevator. "Another passenger on the flight advised the pig owner that she picked up her pig's feces," the report says. "She was not happy about that."
Neither were the FAA and US Airways.
FAA spokesman Jim Peters says the agency is investigating the matter, trying to determine whether the airline violated federal safety and sanitation regulations relating to animals aboard aircraft. If so, US Airways could face fines. "This is something that we're taking very seriously," Peters says.
As for US Airways: Although its internal report says the airline's legal and consumer affairs divisions had cleared the animal for flight, officials have determined that pigs in the cabin are not kosher.
Contributing: Wire services |
