Belgium-bound flight forced to turn back after horse escapes mid-air

A flight from New York to Liege, Belgium was forced to turn around on November 9 after a horse escaped from its stall in the cargo hold.

The Boeing 747 flight was en route to Liege when the horse got spooked and partially escaped from its stall, CNN reported.

The incident took place on November 9 when the Air Atlanta Icelandic cargo flight, which was transporting 15 horses, had reached 31,000 feet.

"We don't have a problem ... flying-wise, [but] we cannot get the horse back secured," one of the pilots were heard saying in a reconstructed video by YouTube channel 'You Can See ATC', the authenticity of which was confirmed by an Air Atlanta Icelandic official.

It is believed that turbulence was behind the incident—the head of the corporation responsible for handling animal quarantine and export at John F Kennedy International Airport told CNN, "The horse jumped and managed to get its two front legs over the (front) barrier and then got jammed."

"It’s only the second time in all the years I’ve been doing this that I’ve ever seen that happen. And we do thousands of horses a year. A very unfortunate event — but that horse was spooked." he added.

Although the pilots managed to turn the aircraft around and get the horse the care it needed, it was a perhaps a bit too late—it was determined that the horse's injuries were too severe for it to survive, and it was euthanized.

While performance and breeding horses are routinely transported on flights without hassles, the incident highlighted the ever-present risk and unpredictability of working with horses, given how they can injure themselves unexpectedly if spooked.