Post by okami on Feb 9, 2009 8:30:52 GMT -5
Here's another classic - and true - Sabena story I read somewhere, and which I'd like to share.
As with a lot of airlines, Sabena used part of it's Dakota fleet for cargo flights; one of the regular cargo flights was the Brussels-Paris one.
One such flight, sometime in the sixties, proved to be nowhere near regular, which the crew found out as soon as they had to sign out the plane. They got to hear they'd have to board the aircraft via the nose hatch, something which was rarely done at all. When the pilot asked about the unusual way of boarding, he got to hear that the cargo compartment was covered with cardboard boxes. But then he learnt about the unusual freight in itself: the 5000 lbs of cargo consisted completely out of live frogs - 20000 of them! They were destined for the restaurants in Paris, where they would be raised until they were big enough for the traditional dishes of frog's legs. Unfortunately, overnight, the cardboard boxes had proved to be anything but frog-proof, which meant the cargo compartment was filled with freely hopping frogs...
Unfortunately for the crew, it didn't stop there. Soon after take-off, they discovered the door between the cockpit and cargo compartment wouldn't lock, which meant that in the shortest of times, the frogs were exploring the cockpit as well. So while the pilots were flying, the navigator had the unenviable task of trying to get the cargo back into the cargo compartment. In which he succeeded. More or less.
By the time the aircraft commenced its landing at Le Bourget, the pilots discovered some of the frogs had hidden themselves in the recesses for the rudder paddles, which meant they had a slightly trickier landing than usual. In fact, after their flights, other crews would report finding stowaways almost every flight for the next two weeks - mostly hidden around the rudder paddles...
The next day, one French newspaper had the cheek of running an article with the following title:
"Aircraft in trouble landing"
"Female passengers kept leaping into pilots' lap"
As with a lot of airlines, Sabena used part of it's Dakota fleet for cargo flights; one of the regular cargo flights was the Brussels-Paris one.
One such flight, sometime in the sixties, proved to be nowhere near regular, which the crew found out as soon as they had to sign out the plane. They got to hear they'd have to board the aircraft via the nose hatch, something which was rarely done at all. When the pilot asked about the unusual way of boarding, he got to hear that the cargo compartment was covered with cardboard boxes. But then he learnt about the unusual freight in itself: the 5000 lbs of cargo consisted completely out of live frogs - 20000 of them! They were destined for the restaurants in Paris, where they would be raised until they were big enough for the traditional dishes of frog's legs. Unfortunately, overnight, the cardboard boxes had proved to be anything but frog-proof, which meant the cargo compartment was filled with freely hopping frogs...
Unfortunately for the crew, it didn't stop there. Soon after take-off, they discovered the door between the cockpit and cargo compartment wouldn't lock, which meant that in the shortest of times, the frogs were exploring the cockpit as well. So while the pilots were flying, the navigator had the unenviable task of trying to get the cargo back into the cargo compartment. In which he succeeded. More or less.
By the time the aircraft commenced its landing at Le Bourget, the pilots discovered some of the frogs had hidden themselves in the recesses for the rudder paddles, which meant they had a slightly trickier landing than usual. In fact, after their flights, other crews would report finding stowaways almost every flight for the next two weeks - mostly hidden around the rudder paddles...
The next day, one French newspaper had the cheek of running an article with the following title:
"Aircraft in trouble landing"
"Female passengers kept leaping into pilots' lap"
I imagine my great grandfather would have enjoyed that venture with the frogs. He was from a small village south of Paris...Coursey.
