Warthog grounds Air Zimbabwe flight
http://www.javno.com/en-world/...mbabwe-flight_280305

The plane had 34 passengers who were going to Bulawayo but fortunately they
are all safe as no-one was injured.

Published: November 03, 2009 20:35h

An Air Zimbabwe flight was forced to make an emergency stop at Harare
International airport on Tuesday after it hit a warthog on the runway, the
company's CEO said.

- Unfortunately our plane which was going to Bulawayo hit a warthog on the
runway and was forced to make an emergency brakes - stop, Peter Chikumba,
Air Zimbabwe CEO told AFP.

- The plane had 34 passengers who were going to Bulawayo but fortunately
they are all safe as no-one was injured. -

The Chinese-made MA 60 aircraft hit the animal while taxiing down the runway
minutes after the departure of Democratic Republic of Congo leader Joseph
Kabila, who was in Harare for talks with the country's unity government.

A passenger onboard the 1715 GMT flight told AFP that the plane skidded off
the runway after it hit the warthog, a commonly found wild pig with
distinctive protruding tusks.

- The passengers were all evacuated but some of us are scared and
traumatised over the whole incident. The plane is damaged as it skidded off
the runway and headed toward the bushes. -

Subsequent intelligence indicates the warthog was an assassin but he hit the wrong plain. No one has claimed responsibility.

sounds alot like my last (and I do mean my LAST) "Scare Zimbabwe" flight... only we didn't hit any animals on the runway.

A Chinese MA 60 Aircraft. . . . .That alone is scary, and then you add Zim's finest and it's a miracle that it only skidded off of the runway and into the bushes. I wonder if the pilot was required to pay the trophy fee on the warthog?

I flew out of Ketchikan Alaska once and as we taxied to the take off position the pilot accelerated to about 20 mph and cruised the whole length of the runway and then turned around and taxied all the way back.

We were all sitting there wondering what was going on when the pilot came over the announcing system and said "Sorry about that, we had to taxi down to the end of the runway and scare a bear off the apron."