Unscheduled landing

Unscheduled landing

An airline has made an unscheduled landing halfway through  its flight across America after  ground staff realized they had stowed a dog in the wrong part of the hold and that it was slowly freezing to death. The United Airlines Airbus had taken off from the international airport in Washington and was on its five hour trip to San Jose California with ninety passengers when the Pilot was told of the plight of a very cold Basenji Called Dakota. He was told that a baggage supervisor had discovered that one of the loaders had put Dakota into the forward hold rather than the rear heated hold.

The pilot sent the senior air steward to the back of the aircraft where Mike Bell Dakotas owner was sitting at his computer. The steward hesitated when he saw that the screensaver on Mr. Bells computer had a large picture of the ten year old dog but eventually asked him to speak to the pilot.

Mr. Bell said the pilot indicated that he was not sure if my dog had survived to this point in the journey.

There was no way for Dakota to let the air crew know about his suffering as the Basenji is a species of dog that does not bark.

Mr. Bell said however the pilot is hopeful. If he were alive the dog would not make it to San Jose under these conditions. So in the best interest of the dog he was going to divert and land in Denver.

The pilot told his passengers He was  going to change course and land for the sake of the animal and Mr. Bell said None of his fellow travelers complained.

When the Airbus landed in Denver Colorado the ground crew raced to the hold and gave the pilot a thumbs up because they found Dakota chilled but live. Mr. Bell was reunited with his dog on the runway and then was given special permission to bring him into the passenger cabin for the rest of the journey. Other passengers cheered as he carried Dakota to his seat at the back of the aircraft. Parents sent their children to the back to stroke  the dog and Dakota wagged his tail feebly. The children were told of the tragedy of a dog which could not bark being holed up in the hold.