Owl found in Jet plane cockpit at Mumbai airport

A wide-eyed owl found its way into the cockpit of a Jet Airways Boeing 777 that was parked for the night at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, officials said on Monday. The nocturnal bird was discovered when some airline staffers entered the aircraft this morning to prepare it for the day's flight operations.

When they stepped inside the cockpit, they were surprised to see the beige-white coloured owl perched comfortably adjacent to the flight commander's seat, said Jet officials. Later, as a staffer approached it, the owl allowed itself to be removed without a fuss and was soon released after some other excited colleagues clicked selfies with it.

A ground staffer said that the bir may have entered through an open door of the aircraft at night hoping to find some food and later could have been trapped inside the cockpit. Mumbai Airport has a slum pocket on the eastern side in the Kurla-Ghatkopar belt which attract hordes of birds, posing security hazard to aircraft here.