An Aussie pilot was enjoying a quiet start to his night shift last week when a sudden spurt of “strange” noises led him to the startling — and momentarily nerve-racking — realisation that he was not alone.
David Phillips, with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Launceston, Tasmania, was filling out some paperwork in the pilot’s room next door when he heard what sounded like “bumps and scratches” coming from the dark plane hangar.
“I thought It may be someone fumbling in the dark — my colleague had just left to go home at the end of their shift,” he told Yahoo News Australia. “I wondered if he had left something behind and had gone to the hangar to fetch it. [It was] not very loud, but definitely unexpected.”
Just as he entered the building, he briefly caught sight of the culprit: a curious brushtail possum, dashing across the floor. However, the battle had only just begun.
The possum was eventually found hiding under the foot pedals in the cockpit and lured to the stairs by an apple. Source: Supplied/Royal Flying Doctor Service
Pilot searches for adventurous brushtail possum
Phillips grabbed a torch and started to search for the cheeky nocturnal marsupial, but didn’t see anything — other than “unmentionable traces” left by the stowaway on the plane — for several minutes.
With nowhere else to look and a “nervous gulp”, the pilot said his heart was racing when he pulled back the cockpit curtain. “It seemed like the only place left to find it hiding, and I had no idea how it was going to react. I was a little relieved when I saw nothing but then I had no idea if the possum was on the plane or not.
“I then turned on all the hangar lights and found a more powerful torch.”
Possum busted in ‘really good hiding place’
During his second look around, Phillips spotted the possum’s brush tail tucked behind the aircraft’s foot pedals. “It had climbed right up into the footwell and up under the dash. It was a really good hiding place,” he said, explaining the creature had “no reaction at all”.
“I shined my torch and it just stayed still and quiet. I can only guess that it was hiding from me — playing possum if you like.” Now, Phillips just had to figure out how to entice the little guy out.
“Luckily, I had an apple that I was able to slice up and place close to the stairs. It seemed to do the job, at least coaxing our furry friend out of hiding in the front of the plane to the stairs at the back.”
But it appeared the possum was enjoying his new home and refused to budge from there.
“I guess he saw me with his night vision because he just sat and stared. This went on for 10 minutes or more,” said Phillips, who eventually called in the on-duty engineer “to assist with the removal of our unexpected guest”.
Creature leaves traces all over plane
The RFDS’s new friend was eventually lured “out the door at the rear of the plane gently with a broom”. The pair spent the next few hours cleaning and conducting safety checks.
“Let’s just say that anything you could imagine a possum leaving behind — was left behind, on the floor and even on the pilot’s seat!” the pilot said.
However it did take one treat. “I’m happy to say that the apple was left outside the hangar and was all gone by morning.”
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