A mischievous cat caused a flight delay of more than two days after sneaking aboard a Ryanair jet and refusing to leave. The Boeing 737, which was set to fly from Rome to Germany, had to be grounded when crew members heard a meowing sound before takeoff. After investigating, maintenance workers even removed several panels from the aircraft, eventually discovering the cat hiding in the plane’s electrical bay.
What followed was a chaotic "cat-and-mouse" chase within the plane. Despite several attempts to remove the cat, it kept retreating into the aircraft's wiring, which led to the flight being canceled due to safety concerns. Over the next two days, the crew continued to remove panels to track the cat, but it kept moving to different parts of the plane, making it nearly impossible to locate. There were concerns that the cat could become trapped in a part of the plane and possibly die unnoticed.
After two days of attempts, the feline "hijacker" finally left the plane voluntarily, strolling down the runway and walking away without a care in the world. However, its antics caused a significant disruption, delaying the flight for over 48 hours. While some might find the rescue efforts excessive, experts explained that a cat loose in the plane could have posed serious problems at 30,000 feet, not to mention costing the airline thousands of dollars.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time a cat has disrupted a flight. In 2021, a plane traveling from Sudan to Qatar had to return to its departure airport after a loose cat attacked the pilot shortly after takeoff.