What should have been a routine short-haul flight quickly descended into chaos when two pigeons were found onboard.
The incident occurred on a Sunday night Delta flight from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin, with traveler Tom Caw telling CBS Minnesota affiliate WCCO that as he boarded, he overheard someone telling the flight attendant that they thought there was a pigeon on the plane.
Airport personnel were called to deal with the unexpected guest, and a Delta baggage handler removed the pigeon safely, clearing the way for what was expected to be a routine takeoff just after 10 p.m.
“The pilot got on the mic and confirmed a pigeon was on the plane, and said he had no experience with this situation,” Caw posted on Instagram.
“Baggage handlers boarded and carried the pigeon off. People applauded. A young girl asked if she could pet it.”
Just after pushing back from the gate, however, the crew discovered a second pigeon had also made its way onboard.
The flight crew alerted air traffic control to the situation, and in an audio recording, air traffic controllers can be heard saying, “There’s a pigeon on the airplane and it won’t go away.”
‘My guess is the pigeons were tired of flying’
“It was caught, and we returned to the gate,” Caw wrote on his post, which featured a video of a man trying to capture the bird with his jacket.
“Pilot said when he radioed the control tower about us coming back due to a pigeon, the guy said that was a first for him.
“Pilot told him it was the second time for him—the first being half an hour earlier. Another baggage handler boarded and removed it—still alive.
“My guess is the pigeons were tired of flying and wanted snacks. They didn’t know this flight to [Madison] is too short for Delta to offer beverage/snack service.”
The flight, which was carrying 119 passengers and five crew members, only arrived in Madison 56 minutes later than scheduled, according to Delta.
“Delta appreciates the careful actions of our people and our customers to safely remove two birds from the aircraft prior to departure, and we apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel,” a spokesperson for the airline told Newsweek in an email.
Unexpected Stowaways
A couple of pigeons might cause a bit of a disturbance, but other incidents have been more serious.
In 2023, a Cape Cobra—which is capable of killing a person in an hour with its bite—found its way into the cockpit of a private flight in South Africa, forcing an emergency landing.
In 2018, a man was caught traveling with 20 live snakes in his hand luggage on a flight from Germany to Russia.
That same year, a monkey that was headed for a wildlife sanctuary escaped from his crate in a San Antonio baggage area.
So, while pigeons might have been an unusual discovery, the situation certainly could have been worse.
Newsweek reached out to bird experts requesting further comment.
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