A PLANE was forced to turn back less than 20 minutes into its journey after a horse broke loose in the cargo hold.
As the animal caused chaos mid-air, desperate pilots in an Air Atlanta Icelandic flight pleaded to return to New York immediately.
The flight departed New York’s JFK International Airport for Belgium when the horse became free and was unable to be secured back in its stall.
A YouTube reconstruction of the flight path showed the plane had risen to 31,000 feet over Boston when the pilots contacted air traffic control.
“We are a cargo plane with a live animal, a horse, on board. The horse has broken out of its stall,” the puzzled pilot said.
“We don’t have a problem flying-wise but we need to return back to New York.
“We cannot get the horse back secured.”
The pilots also asked for a veterinarian to be present after landing.
Flightradar24 reported that the flight took off again at 6.35pm and landed successfully in Liege after roughly six hours at 6.49am local time on November 10.
It comes after a huge rat and a baby otter caused chaos after breaking free on a commercial flight at 15,000ft.
The plane was headed from Thailand to Taiwan when horrified passengers spotted a giant albino rat scurrying in the aisle.
Panicked air hostesses set about searching the plane as passengers cowered in their seats.
They were shocked when they discovered a second creature crawling around on the floor.
One passenger said: “I told the cabin crew and they checked the plane.
“That’s when they found the big otter under one of the seats. They kept looking for the white rat and an employee caught the rat.
“It bit them on the hand while they carried it back to the kitchen at the back of the plane.”
Footage shows the chaos onboard the flight – operated by Vietnamese carrier Viet Jet – as the crew battled to catch the animals.
They found a 30cm long baby otter rolling around under a seat – which had allegedly been smuggled onboard in a woman’s hand-luggage.
The cabin crew reportedly made an announcement ordering anyone who had brought animals on the plane to make themselves known.
The person filming said that several seats were searched before a Chinese passenger “asked for a refund” and allegedly admitted the animals belonged to her.
Staff then appealed for a passenger who could “speak Chinese fluently” to help them discuss the situation with the woman, who is believed to have bought the creatures from a market.
Upon arrival it turned out these were not the only creatures hitching a ride, several different species were discovered when cops searched “every bag”, including a box of 28 live turtles.
