Cow Takes On a Lion

A report in the Daily Mail today:

Ah well not quite!!

A passenger jet hit a cow when landing and skidded off the runway in Indonesia.

The Lion Air jet carrying 110 passengers and seven crew crashed into one of three cows that were wandering on the runway in Gorontalo, on Sulawesi Island.

No injuries were reported, but the incident forced the cancellation of flights, stranding hundreds of passengers traveling for the Eid holiday.

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said three cows were on the runway, and the plane hit at least one of them and careened off the runway before coming to a stop.

The condition of the cows was unclear.

Pilot Iwan Permadi told Antara news agency that he could smell ‘burning meat’ during the incident, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

He had thought there were dogs on the runway, but soon found out they were cows.

The plane suffered minor damage and skidded into the field next to the runway.

According to local media it had left Jakarta and also had a stopover in Makassar, on Sulawesi.

Indonesia has Asia’s worst aviation safety records.

In April, a Lion Air plane belly-flopped into the ocean just short of the runway off the resort island of Bali. All 108 people aboard survived.

The company has also put in orders with Airbus and Bowing. It has an aim to own 1000 planes within 10 years.

The incident is under investigation.