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Pit bull chews through plane's wiring

 
Published Aug. 15, 2002|Updated Sept. 3, 2005

Pilots heard a thumping sound as American Airlines Flight 282 approached New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and guessed that a 68-pound pit bull in the cargo hold had broken out of its kennel.

Soon afterward, they couldn't figure out why backup radio and data communications equipment went out as the Boeing 757 descended into JFK.

After the flight from San Diego landed, the captain and the dog's owner went into the cargo compartment and were shocked at what they saw.

Not only was the pit bull running loose, but the dog had chewed and clawed a 18- by 8-inch hole through a fiberglass bulkhead and bitten through wires in an electronics compartment.

Alarmed by the damage, American banned adult pit bulls, Rottweilers and Doberman pinschers _ and related mixed breeds _ from its planes five days after the July 22 incident.

While the dog didn't damage equipment critical to flying the plane, it was the first time the airline heard of an animal getting loose in flight and damaging a plane, said spokesman Gus Whitcomb.

American decided there was too much risk to continue carrying breeds of large dogs it considered overly aggressive, he said,

"We're on unique ground here," Whitcomb said. "We don't know what spooked the animal, but we're trying to minimize the risk. The simplest way to do that is to prohibit these breeds from being taken on the airplane."

The Federal Aviation Administration investigated and did not recommend making any improvements to the 757, said Roland Herwig, a spokesman in the agency's Oklahoma City regional office.

The Transportation Security Administration's hazardous cargo division will also investigate and could recommend new procedures for shipping aggressive dogs. "They look at it as if a substance in a package got out and destroyed something," Herwig said.

Photos posted on American's Web site for pilots show at least four insulated cables severed in the electronics bay, which holds computers, wiring and gyros used for navigation. Pilots call the compartment "the brains of the airplane."

The damage was "a pretty significant event . . . cause for concern," said Sam Mayer, an MD-80 captain and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American pilots. "You hope it's a one-in-a-million event and you'll never see it again."

The aggressive dog policy has outraged groups representing dog owners. The airline is punishing responsible owners and unfairly stereotyping entire breeds of dogs as dangerous, says the American Kennel Club.

"This is a knee-jerk reaction to an incident that could have occurred with any breed of dog and is more an issue of making sure the dog is in an appropriate traveling crate," vice president Noreen Baxter said in a prepared statement.

American, the world's largest airline, transports about 14,000 pets and animals for zoos and charities each year, Whitcomb said.

The ban will inconvenience hundreds, if not thousands, of pet owners _ from reassigned military personnel to competitors at dog shows, said Walter Woolf, owner of Air Animal, a Tampa company that arranges pet transportation for people moving to new homes.

Last year, Continental Airlines stopped carrying pit bulls and any other animal that "is offensive or shows aggression," according to the airline's Web site.

"The animals are likely to get hurt when they're trying to chew out of the kennel," said spokesman Rahsaan Johnson. "A few occasionally get out of the kennel and on the tarmac. We don't want them attacking employees."

A few carriers, including Southwest Airlines, refuse to transport any animals.

American personnel followed all airline and federal regulations transporting the pit bull on the July 22 flight that carried 125 passengers and a crew of seven, Whitcomb said.

The dog was in an approved plastic kennel with the door securely shut, he said. American asks owners not to lock the door in case employees need to assist a distressed animal.

A narrative on the pilot's Web site said the kennel door was damaged "where the dog apparently ran into it with its head."

American won't take dogs as checked luggage during summer months. But the pit bull was shipped as air cargo, and the temperature in San Diego was below 85 degrees.

The dog damaged cables for one of two radio channels, a device for exchanging data with the airline's dispatchers and a backup navigation system, said Whitcomb, the American spokesman. Pilots considered diverting to another airport to check out the noise and equipment loss, the Web site said, but decided they were close enough land at JFK.

The 757 was out nine days for repairs but has returned to service, Whitcomb said.

American didn't publicize the incident or the ban on certain breeds. The American Kennel Club received questions from dog owners told last week that American would accept only pit bulls, Dobermans, Rottweilers and related mixed breeds between 8 and 12 weeks old.

"We've heard from dog groups we didn't know existed," Whitcomb said. "They figure we're singling out certain dogs. But our No. 1 job is safety, and we're going to take it seriously."

_ Times staff writer Bill Adair and researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Steve Huettel can be reached at huettelsptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.