Vulture “takes” Ryanair plane hostage in Crete

An unusual incident occurred on the evening of 16 August at Nikos Kazantzakis Airport in Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete: a griffon vulture landed on the tail section of a Ryanair plane preparing for departure and categorically refused to fly away. The pilots tried to scare the bird off, including by moving the aircraft’s tail control surfaces, but the huge bird of prey remained completely calm. In the end, firefighters had to be called to the aircraft — they climbed up to the bird using a ladder, but even their arrival did not make it leave the plane.

At one point, the griffon vulture moved from the aircraft to the runway on its own. The firefighters then covered the bird with a jacket and carefully caught it. According to firefighter Antonis Petrakis, who took part in the operation, they had never encountered anything like this in practice: the bird remained completely calm throughout the entire operation. The vulture was not injured and was handed over to specialists for examination and eventual release back into the wild.

After the delay, the plane was able to resume preparations for departure. For Crete, the appearance of a griffon vulture at the airport is not in itself particularly surprising: the island is considered one of the species’ most important habitats in the Mediterranean.