Photo: MARTIN BUREAU / AFP / Getty Images
A cargo plane was forced to return to John F. Kennedy International Airport after a horse got loose in the cargo hold. The plane was transporting the horse from New York to Belgium.
About 30 minutes after taking off, the pilot radioed air traffic controllers in Boston because the horse was loose. The conversation between the pilot and air traffic controllers was posted on YouTube by You Can See ATC.
"We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board. The horse managed to escape its stall. There's no issue with flying, but we need to go back to New York as we can't resecure the horse," the pilot said.
The plane was at 31,000 feet at the time and had to dump about 20 tons of fuel into the Atlantic Ocean before it could land. The pilot requested a veterinarian to meet the plane once it was back on the ground.
Once the plane safely landed in New York, the horse was put back in its trailer, and the flight continued to Belgium about three hours behind schedule.
Officials did not say how the horse managed to escape from its stall.