Ikman Ikreza 0 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 Baby rats ground Qantas plane By Michael Vincent A Qantas Boeing 767 was grounded in Sydney after five baby rats were found in an onboard medical cupboard. Passengers were 15 minutes from boarding the Tuesday afternoon Sydney-to-Brisbane flight when the crew began their routine inspection. A Qantas spokeswoman says the baby rats were found in a cupboard containing the defibrillator kit. She says the rats were removed and killed, and the aircraft was taken out of service for 36 hours. Qantas says it is confident no adult rats were on the plane, which was later inspected by Qantas ground staff. The spokeswoman says it is the first time in recent history such animals have been found onboard a Qantas plane. But the Transport Workers Union's Scott Connolly says that is not true. "It's not an isolated occasion. Our members working out there report that they've increasingly reported concerns about hygiene, sanitation, and this isn't the first occasion that they've reported rodents on aircraft and around their work space," he said. When ABC Radio's AM asked Qantas if it was confident the baby rats had made their own way onto the plane and into the cupboard by themselves, the spokeswoman said it is a rare and unusual occurrence. The spokeswoman said the aircraft are stored at the airport overnight and such animals do run across the tarmac. But she said Qantas was not investigating any staff over the incident and had no concerns the discovery of the rats was linked to ongoing industrial action. Mr Connolly called on Qantas to address the issue. "It's surprising, but not surprising in light of the reports that we've had from the workers that they've reported these concerns over a number of occasions," he said. But he said the discovery was not related to recent industrial action. "Absolutely not, clearly this is related to the company's work practices and what's happening in that particular work space," he said. A spokeswoman for Sydney Airport told AM Terminal Three, where the rats were found, is entirely owned and managed by Qantas. Qantas says the aircraft is due to return to service today. Source : http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/02/3233286.htm More : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/02/rats-found-qantas-plane-just-takeoff.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamizi Hj Tamby 1 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 Shocking... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BC Tam 2 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 Shocking... Yes, absolutely - fact that the union has not pinned presence of the rodents on QF's foreign outsourcing of services Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JuliusWong 0 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 ....."the rats were removed and killed..." poor damsels... One word from me: EEWWWWWWW!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sandeep G 1 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 Rats on a Plane!! An aussie box office smash perhaps? Not nice to have been found with the med-kit though... kinda gross! QANTAS have always had this problem though... they're quite blind to the fact that there is a giant "rat" living on ALL their aircraft - in the vicinity of the tail.. In fact recently, this "rat" even got a "facelift" and now looks pretty speedy!! *Apologies for the somewhat dark sense of humour - but Australia is the only country in the world that kills and eats the animals of its coat-of-arms and often culls roo's to maintain control on the exploding populations!* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BC Tam 2 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 ....."the rats were removed and killed..." poor damsels... One word from me: EEWWWWWWW!! And what is this uproar we hear about Australian cattle being 'mistreated' in Indonesian abattoirs ? read here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JuliusWong 0 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 And what is this uproar we hear about Australian cattle being 'mistreated' in Indonesian abattoirs ? read here Holy Molly Lord!! I dare not watch the documentary.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheng Long 0 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 And what is this uproar we hear about Australian cattle being 'mistreated' in Indonesian abattoirs ? read here ok..this is a bit off topic..but further on to this cattle thing, we have asylum seekers treated like Indonesian cattle in Malaysia. Link here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yue Lee 0 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 My first impression of reading the news was 'LOL' Qantas is in such a mess they really need to get things together and stop bitchin' and moanin' and complainin' Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Radzi 2 Report post Posted June 2, 2011 *Apologies for the somewhat dark sense of humour - but Australia is the only country in the world that kills and eats the animals of its coat-of-arms and often culls roo's to maintain control on the exploding populations!* Not exactly true. Tiger is on the coat-of-arm of Malaysia, and whilst it is illegal, cases of people killing and eating tiger parts are not unheard of. Back to the original rat-on-plane story, it is not hygiene as the main concern, but rather the fact that rats can chew thru wires. And you don't want to have wires broken by rat action while aircraft is in flight, especially those fly-by-wire types. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peter Smith 1 Report post Posted June 4, 2011 QANTAS have always had this problem though... they're quite blind to the fact that there is a giant "rat" living on ALL their aircraft - in the vicinity of the tail.. In fact recently, this "rat" even got a "facelift" and now looks pretty speedy!! *Apologies for the somewhat dark sense of humour - but Australia is the only country in the world that kills and eats the animals of its coat-of-arms and often culls roo's to maintain control on the exploding populations!* Not our fault Kangaroo's are soo tasty Radzi, to elaborate on Sandeep, we're the only country it is legal to eat our delicious coat of arms. Sandeep, hilarious song about Rats on a plane on Mix 94.5 yesterday morning Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
