Stowaway Squirrel Grounds Jet

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Stowaway squirrel grounds jet

Story Highlights• Pilots on American Airlines Boeing 777 heard scratching in cockpit ceiling

• Tokyo to Dallas flight made emergency landing in Honolulu

• Stowaway squirrel trapped and removed

• The 202 human passengers got hotel rooms, new flights

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HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) -- An American Airlines flight made an unscheduled landing after pilots heard something skittering about in the wire-laden space over the cockpit.

The airline blamed the emergency landing of the Tokyo-Dallas flight with 202 passengers on a stowaway squirrel.

"You do not want a varmint up in the wiring areas and what-have-you on an airplane. You don't want anything up there," said John Hotard, spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline.

He said pilots feared the animal would chew through wiring or cause other problems.

"So, as a precaution, we diverted," Hotard said.

Once on the ground late Friday, the Boeing 777's human passengers were put up in hotel rooms and later rebooked on other flights.

State and federal agriculture and wildlife officials boarded the plane, set traps and captured the eastern gray squirrel.

Hotard said the plane had flown to Tokyo from New York before the Dallas flight.

Honolulu, however, proved to be the squirrel's final destination. Fearing it might have been carrying rabies, authorities had the rodent killed.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.