The captain of an Iberia flight from Düsseldorf to Madrid was bitten by a tarantula Friday afternoon while piloting the Airbus A320 aircraft. He turned out to be allergic to spider venom, had a reaction, but managed to land the aircraft in Madrid.
The pilot was treated with methylprednisolone, an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid in the plane’s first aid kit, which helped prevent a more severe reaction. Iberia confirms that the pilot was in stable condition.
Several crewmembers identified saw the spider, but it was never recovered. Authorities believe that it boarded the aircraft during an earlier flight in Casablanca. They believe it entered the aircraft in passenger luggage, escaped, and stayed on board.
The aircraft was held on the ground in Madrid for fumigation, causing a three hour delay of the aircraft’s next flight to Vigo. Passengers waiting to board were initially informed of “maintenance checks” before the true cause of the delay emerged.
- I’m not sure I’d want to board an aircraft such a short period of time after fumigation
- Those that did reportedly appeared uneasy, checking their seats, aisles, and belongings for signs of additional spiders.
Iberia has stated it will review procedures to prevent similar occurrences in the future. It’s not clear that they’ll actually do anything differently, however.
The closest I’ve ever seen to spiders on a plane were the Spiderman amenity kits that United Airlines had in business class before the pandemic.
Garuda Indonesia once played off snakes on one of their planes saying it was just a “legless lizard.” No big deal.
Three years ago passengers actually tried bringing taratulas on board a flight on purpose, leaving Colombia for Germany with over 300 tarantulas, scorpions and giant cockroaches. On another flight, from the Dominican Republic to Canada, a passenger brought a tarantula with them as a souvenir, intending to keep it as a pet. People aren’t just dumb, they’re stupid.
(HT: Enilria)
Gary, you should have mentioned EU261!
After all, the incident caused a three-hour delay for a flight between EU countries–under their consumer-friendly laws, these passengers should be eligible for compensation ($200/person). Since Iberia already referred to it as a ‘maintenance’ issue, the airline should not be able to deny claims based on the ‘extraordinary circumstance’ defense, though they may still try to anyway.
If only we in the US had actual ‘common sense’ to legislate such protections for our people. Nope, instead we are blinded by 24/7, pro-business propaganda. So if such an incident happened here, we can ‘deal with it’ as we wait, or cancel for a refund in the amount of the unused portion of our ticket. Pretty lame by comparison, eh? Let’s do better, folks.
Not sure what the big deal about bringing a tarantula on a plane is… A properly caged tarantula is MUCH safer for the other passengers than an emotional support animal!
Weird. Did somebody just lose their pet tarantula on the plane? Sure, they can’t go around calling “Here Spot, come to mommy.” but the varmint making it all the way to the cockpit is really something. Then there’s the pilot’s allergy. I’ve never even heard of someone allergic to spider venom. Maybe Spain just has an inordinate number of venomous spiders or something.