It's the little things that count

Eeeek!     (Photo by George Shuklin)

If ever there were doubts that little things count a lot, passengers from a recent British Airways flight could testify.

After a mouse was discovered on board their aircraft, the flight from London to San Francisco was delayed.  How is it possible for a tiny mouse to detain a jumbo jet?

Aviation expert Michael Boyd explained:  Two ounces of mouse will cancel a 6,000-mile flight, there’s no question.  They eat anything and chew anything and can slide through anything.  That’s a dangerous skill set at 36,000 feet.

Worse yet, ounces of mouse can quickly become pounds of mice.  When one is found, others could be literally waiting in the wings. 

This isn't the first time that a mouse faced down something way bigger.  Pliny the Elder wrote during the first century that elephants are afraid of mice.  MythBusters checked this out 20 centuries later, and gave it a "plausible" rating.    

Resources

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mouse-massive-delay-flight-london-san-francisco-article-1.2987146

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/elephants-afraid-mice/

Copyright March 3, 2017 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved