Stray cat forces Sudanese passenger plane into emergency landing

The plane turned back 30 minutes into the flight. Photo / 123RF

A Sudanese passenger plane was forced to turn back and make an emergency landing after a stray cat attacked the pilot.

Local media report that the incident occurred last week, when a Tarco flight was 30 minutes into a trip from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to Doha.

The bizarre incident saw a reportedly "aggressive" cat appear in the cockpit and attack the pilot as other crew struggled to catch it.

The cat reportedly attacked the pilot. Photo / 123RF

The pilot then made the decision to turn the plane around so the situation could be resolved.

Al Sudani news quoted sources as saying the high-flying feline could have climbed inside the aircraft while it was parked in a hangar.

In a similar incident in 2012, a cat entered the cockpit of an Air Canada flight, delaying takeoff.

In that case the cat was legally on board the plane but escaped from its cage and hid inside wiring in the cockpit, forcing all passengers to be removed from the plane and the cockpit to be taken apart to retrieve the frightened animal.

Loose cats at airports have been an issue in New Zealand in the past.

In 2008 a cat escaped at Auckland Airport as it was being loaded on to an international flight, spending two months on the run before it was eventually caught.

Air New Zealand cargo staff put up posters around the airport, set cat traps, ran checks with the SPCA and carried out regular searches of the tarmac and airport to search for the "skittish" pet before it was eventually captured.