While I had my lunchbreak today at 13h00, I decided to go and watch some take offs and landings @ BRU (10 minutes drive from my work) from the "zandberg" location near the football field.
I took the Leuvensesteenweg from Zaventem to Nossegem and at a sudden I had to hit the brakes. A fire truck was coming out of the firestation with lots of lights and sounds. Still a bit impressed I carried on.
While I arrived ontop of the zandberg I noticed some firetrucks holding short at both sides of exit C4. Ah, this could be an interesting lunchbreak 8) . I kept my eyes focussed in the direction of Brussels, since the runways in use were 07R/20. I saw an Avro vacating at E3, and then for 10 minutes, nothing...
Suddenly the firetrucks were slowly moving closer to the runway and I noticed an Avro on final 25L! Note that the runway configuration was 20/07R!!!
The SNBA Avro RJ100 made, what seemed to me, a normal landing, vacated via C4. I counted 7 (yes seven!!) firetrucks and several other "little vehicules" from BIAC etc which followed the Avro from real close. The Avro didn't hold short at the exit but vacated via C4 and taxied via E1 OUT11 straight to a stand @ Apron 4.
Unfortunatelly, I had no time left over because I had to be back at my desk at 14h00. And offcourse... no camera
I was very worried and eager to know more about this emergency... Then around 15h30 I had a pilot of SNBA on MSN telling me about the emergency. All aircraft received instruction to do some holdings during 30 minutes for this guy. When he told me the cause of the emergency, I couldn't believe my eyes and started to shatter out loud at my desk.. :laugh:
A cat was in the cockpit!!! The cat must have been stuck behind the peddals or very close to electronic wiring (not confirmed) and so it was a very risky situation. If the cat would have panicked, it could have had some serious risks for damaging the wiring, not to mention the pilots
That's what they call... geen katje om zonder handschoenen aan te pakken!
Just wanted to share with you this very amuzing lunchbreak.
FYI, it was OO-DWA and flightnumber S-Tail 3618
Finally something (interesting) happened at BRU 
I hope the cat is ok? Maybe it can become the new mascot of SN (like that dog for Sabena)
fftopic: but a few years ago in Paris, I saw a stupid cow shoving a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel into a backpack. The dog was struggling and clearly did not want to be crammed into a bag. If people have animals like dogs then they should remember what the dog's legs are for and let them walk. Just because a dog is small it doesn't mean that it is incapable of walking anywhere, I have seen people who treat Yorkshire terriers like dogs instead of handbags, and let them run in the park and on the beach, and the dogs have always been happy and contented. Those which have been "pampered" and carried everywhere and never allowed to walk about on their own tend to be more likely to snap and be bad tempered (we used to get plenty like this at the vets where I worked!)
That was something I saw on one of the main shopping streets of Paris. 
. The French have a strange attitude to animals anyway. We used to look in pet shops over there and see bloody perfume for dogs! And whilst i accept that something like a poodle needs to be clipped to keep its coat in good condition, I cannot accept that the same poodle has to be dyed in a stupid shade of pink to suit the owner's pathetic whims.
