A mouse on a plane sounds like the start of a joke, but on Wednesday morning it was a line in a JetBlue maintenance log. At 8:03 a.m., with JetBlue flight 67 from Philadelphia cruising at 32,000 feet about half an hour before it landed in Fort Lauderdale, the crew sent a message to the ground through ACARS, the text messaging system planes use to talk to their airline. It read: "Write up for mouse is in the logbook." I came across it through FlightDeck, an app that surfaces messages like this one from flights in the air.
The flight itself was fine. The 18-year-old Airbus A320 left Philadelphia on time and landed in Fort Lauderdale a few minutes early, according to flight tracking data. What happens to the plane next is the more interesting part, because a mouse isn't just a gross surprise at 32,000 feet. On an airplane, it's a maintenance problem.
Why a Mouse Is a Big Deal on a Plane
The logbook is the official record every plane carries of anything that needs fixing, from a broken seat to a warning light. Once something is written up, mechanics have to look at it and sign it off before the plane can fly again, which is why the crew made a point of flagging it.
The real worry is wiring. A modern plane is packed with miles of cables running behind the walls, floors and ceiling, and mice love to chew. A rodent nibbling through the wrong wire can knock out a system or, in the worst case, start a fire, so airlines take sightings seriously. Depending on what mechanics find, a plane can be cleared quickly, sent for a deeper inspection or pulled out of service for pest control, which usually means traps and sometimes fumigation.
What Happens Next
Whatever mechanics found, it didn't keep the plane on the ground for long. Flight tracking shows the same A320 pushed back from the gate in Fort Lauderdale as JetBlue flight 686 to Newark at 11:26 a.m. That was less than three hours after it arrived and only four minutes behind schedule. It landed in Newark around 2:10 p.m. It had spent the night before parked in Philadelphia. JetBlue hasn't commented, and it's not clear whether the mouse was caught, where on the plane it was seen or how it got on board. Mice usually sneak on through catering carts, cargo or bags, especially at airports where the planes sit overnight.
Honestly, I'd rather share a row with a crying baby than a mouse, but I'm glad the crew wrote it up instead of shrugging it off. If you're ever on a flight and see one, tell a flight attendant right away. It feels awkward, but it's exactly the kind of thing the crew wants to know.
