Adventurous dog hit by plane on Atatürk Airport runway

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

An adventurous dog that managed to find its way onto a runway at Istanbul Atatürk Airport has died after being hit by a plane, which also caused a delay for three aircrafts until the runway was cleared. 

The pilot of a Turkish Airlines flight from Porto warned ground operations that a pack of dogs were on the runway, after the Boeing 737 he was operating hit and killed a dog on the airport apron. 

The plane, which had landed at 9:33 p.m. with 68 passengers aboard, underwent an examination after docking with the passenger boarding bridge.

Meanwhile, the accident hindered air traffic, as three aircrafts had to go around the site of the collision before ground operations teams could clear the runway. 

This is the second incident of uninvited guests on Turkish runways reported within the past few months, after a 63-year-old driver entered a runway at Ankara’s airport on Aug. 27, thinking it was “a beautiful highway.”

“I initially thought what a beautiful highway it was. Then I realized that it was a runway,” the man who was released after a brief detention had said.